Rise of the OneWinged Angel
by eidolondestroyer
Summary: What happened before the Nibelheim incident? How did Sephiroth come to be the half-deranged yet unbelievably powerful warrior that led Shinra's forces to victory in war? Read, review, etc.
1. Prologue

**Author's Note**- Oh, snap! I forgot to put my disclaimer in here. Anyways, seeing as how I'm writing this fanfiction, you can probably guess that I am not rolling in mountains of cash, and therefore most definitely do not own Final Fantasy 7. I wish I did, what with all the money and that sort of stuff, but I don't. It belongs to Squaresoft. A fine job they do with their games, that Squaresoft bunch (Unlimited Saga not included in this generality)

            _Life is an illusion, the peaceful lull before its end, what is known as death. But, do we truly die? True, the body decays and decomposes with time, yet the soul, the very essence of life, never truly departs from the Planet. Instead, it comes together with other souls to form the Lifestream, which is then used to give souls to new life. This life is not necessarily human, or whatever type of life the new soul was in its last life, the soul could be given to a deer, or a rabbit, or a bird, or even the inanimate trees and plants. At least, that is how it should be. Now, now Shinra has discovered how profitable Mako energy, condensed Lifestream energy, can be when used as an energy source, instead of its old use, a use rarely utilized, when it was condensed further to form materia. This Mako energy, regardless of how Shinra uses it, is then used up, expired, and the soul energy that is the Lifestream used to make the Mako is gone, and so the Planet dies a little. More importantly, our soul energy dies. So, death is real, we can truly die. Still, death is unnatural if all of this is true, which means Shinra, Mako energy, materia, all of it is unnatural. Yet this contradicts the basic truths of life. Materia does form naturally at points where great quantities of Lifestream gather. And, it is believed by the same people who now fight against Shinra that everything is natural, that nothing can happen unless it is meant to, and is that not the definition of natural?_

_            Indeed, life contradicts itself. There is no truth in life, so life must not be true. As such, life is merely an illusion, made to comfort the souls of men. Why? Why would people need the illusion of life? That is the ultimate and final question of those who grow weary of life and wish to die. More specifically, the question of those who believe there is something better than life. That could only mean the Cetra, or the Ancients, as they are more commonly known, who believe they are guaranteed entry into the Promised Land. Some would believe they are fools. I, on the other hand, know for a fact this belief of the Cetra to be true. I am a Cetra, and I have entered the Promised Land. However, even after being separated from the Planet and its Lifestream, I continue to maintain a presence there, so that one day all my plans will come to fruition. None of them know yet, even the one who killed me refuses to acknowledge the truth. Soon though, very soon they will know. They follow my puppets and my flesh and blood form. Soon the Reunion will occur. The puppets alone would never be enough to allow for a successful Reunion, only his presence. His power may be great, but it is not yet realized. He will follow my command; the Black Materia will be mine. His soul is too weak to resist as it is in turmoil. Killing the Cetra proved more beneficial than I ever would have thought._

Sephiroth then concluded his musings. He always did the same thing after a day of pulling strings to advance his plans. When the flesh and blood form of him that he used to do his bidding slept, his subconscious mind, the only part of his mind that still functioned due to his imprisonment in the Promised Land, thought. Sephiroth was too powerful of body and mind to not notice what happened all around him and inside of him, so even in the deep coma-like condition he was in, he could hear, and sometimes even control, his subconscious mind. Such abilities made his subconscious mind more like a conscious sleeper cell. Still, his control was limited, and after controlling his puppet during the day, his subconscious mind would act independently. Sephiroth used this fact to his advantage, as the subconscious part of him often knew things he did not, and the additional knowledge he gained from listening to his subconscious thought was often what allowed him to succeed in the phases of his plan. The thoughts that the subconscious portion of Sephiroth had recently turned out were filled with knowledge. He could give these to his puppet, perhaps rankle Cloud and his group of misfits. It was quite entertaining, the group Cloud traveled with. A man with a gun for his right arm, a girl who also denied the truth of what had happened long ago, a…wolf-like creature who was the last of his race, a stuffed animal with a cat controlling it, the cat itself being controlled from afar, rather ironically, a Materia thief from Wutai, a place which brought back memories, and then of course there was the pilot, who had the sky and space taken away from him by Shinra. The only one who was even the least bit worthy in Sephiroth's eyes was Cloud, since the Cetra girl was dead.

            Then, without any sort of transitional phase, Sephiroth's subconscious mind began to remember the glory days of Sephiroth, his rise to power, and his descent to madness…


	2. Chapter One

            Shinra had had great power. Spanning over two continents, one of which was entirely under its rule, it was the largest, most dominant force on the Planet. Still, those who have power tend to use it, and power is inevitably used to gain more power. Therefore Shinra launched a war on those who were not yet under their control. The combined forces of Midgar and Junon marched out and off to war. Among this army were the feared SOLDIER forces. The members of SOLDIER were treated with Mako energy and had cells from Jenova injected into them. This treatment gave them superhuman strength, and, most noticeably, it gave their eyes a green glow. While the SOLDIER forces were powerful, they were too few in number to be of any true assistance. When all of SOLDIER rode out into one battle, the enemy would soon retreat, but SOLDIER was often divided to keep defenses from attacks up. Eventually only one or two battalions of SOLDIER would be seen in battle, and rarely even that.

            However, even with SOLDIER defending them from onslaught, the superhuman force was too few in number and spread out too thin. Towns began to fall to the allied rebels of Wutai and Corel. First to be surrendered was Gongaga village. After that the rebels seized Costa del Sol and plotted a safe sea route to Shinra's main continent. They then used that sea route to land in Junon, Shinra's symbol of military might. While the rebels could not seize the heavily defended Junon, they were able to slip out of Shinra's military headquarters with few casualties. They then seized Fort Condor, which was just outside of Junon. From this they were able to launch hit and run raids on Junon. Eventually Shinra filed out of lower Junon, as the price to keep it was beginning to be too much. With that the rebels managed to isolate upper Junon, as with Costa del Sol came control of the sea separating the two continents. Shinra soldiers couldn't sail away from Junon without running a fifteen ship blockade, and Junon currently only had one ship in its harbor.

            After achieving this great success, the rebel forces moved on. Braving the Midgar Zolom, the rebels trekked across vast plains to Kalm town, which neighbored Midgar. Attacking en masse, the rebels managed to seize Kalm town, but not without heavy casualties. Still, the rebels thought the price worth it, as they could attack both of Shinra's main cities. More importantly, both Junon and Midgar were cut off from the outside world. Shinra was crumbling bit by bit, and only SOLDIER was keeping their last defenses from crumbling. While this disturbed many, even some of those in SOLDIER, one person was not perturbed the least bit. He saw everything in different terms. This was not the sign of the fall of Shinra; this was the sign of his ascension to power. He, Sephiroth, would now be able to rise among the ranks of SOLDIER. And Sephiroth was quite powerful, even amongst the ranks of SOLDIER. Only he, Hojo, and several of the top executives in Shinra knew why. Instead of most members of SOLDIER, who were exposed to Mako and injected with Jenova cells after proving to be elite amongst the ranks of Shinra's army, Sephiroth was given this treatment before he had even left the womb. Also, he was given far more massive quantities of Jenova cells and Mako radiation than the other members of SOLDIER. As a result, Sephiroth was indeed the most powerful human ever. Still, he hadn't yet had the opportunity to prove this power, as Shinra was afraid to lose its prized specimen prematurely. Instead, Sephiroth was given the useless task of being the guardian of Shinra's main Mako harvester. At least, it seemed useless…

            Sephiroth ducked and rolled across the narrow catwalk. After coming up he performed a combination of slashes and thrusts, all of which went into the air. Of course they did. He wasn't actually fighting someone; he just enjoyed the thrill. One misstep, or one imperfect move with his sword, and he would plunge into the Mako pool beneath him. He guarded the main Mako harvester, from which well over two-thirds of all of Midgar's Mako came from. If he fell, he would fall through the Mako pool and into the Lifestream from which it had come, and that would be lethal. He had seen the results of exposure to the Lifestream. For the most part anyone exposed died. The worst thing was, they were the lucky ones. The ones who lived, they were worse off. They lived, yet they did not. The body was functioning, but it was just an empty shell. There were no remnants of whoever had once lived in that body. It was because of this that Hojo repeatedly tried to talk Sephiroth out of his practice, saying it was because he was concerned about his "son". Sephiroth knew that he was nothing greater than a lab rat in Hojo's eyes. A very strong lab rat, but a lab rat nonetheless.

            The thought angered Sephiroth and his training session grew more furious. His own father didn't care about him. Most people who didn't have a true father really didn't have a father present in their lives. But Hojo, he checked up on Sephiroth as often as he could. He didn't want his experiment to go awry. Then, of course, there was the five-a-day injections, the bi-weekly physicals, the monthly "progress report", and…

            Sephiroth lost his train of thought as the alarm blared to life. His eyes darted back and forth, trying to see if he might have tripped the alarm. The catwalk he was standing on was filled with proximity alerts. He then looked to the door at the opposite end of the catwalk. The metal of the door was glowing. Sephiroth's eyes furrowed and a slight grin came to his face. This would be an interesting challenge. He dropped into a battle stance, positioning his sword, a standard SOLDIER model, into a perfect defensive position.

            The door burst forward and Sephiroth leapt straight over it. A squad of five rebels filed onto the catwalk, two of them hanging back to cover the others. This would be fun. Sephiroth came down and sliced straight through the rebel who had taken point position. He then twisted to avoid an attack from one of the other rebels and thrust his blade into that rebel's neck. A quick step and a turn, a slash of the blade, another rebel went down. Now only the two rebels were left. They rushed Sephiroth in sync, but dealing with them was all too easy. As they fell down into the Mako pool, still very much alive, a look of glee spread across Sephiroth's face. This was what being part of SOLDIER was all about.

            Sephiroth's victory was cut short when his legs were swept out from underneath him. He began to fall but managed to grab hold of the catwalk with his hand. He looked and saw that one of the rebels was still alive, and had dared to attack him. He attempted to pull himself up but the flat of the rebel's blade crushed the hand he had been holding himself onto the catwalk with. Sephiroth didn't scream, he never did, but he couldn't hold on to the catwalk and as he fell his only thought was how ironic it was that Hojo was right, he really shouldn't have been on that catwalk.

            Sephiroth's body slammed into the pool of Mako energy and every muscle in his body began to spasm. Sephiroth twitched violently as he went deeper and deeper before he finally entered the Lifestream. The experience was far worse than anything he could have imagined. Voices, millions of them, entered into his head. Thoughts that were not his own ran amuck, and he heard cries of agony that didn't exist. It was overwhelming for Sephiroth, and he wasn't sure how much longer he could hold on. He couldn't even find his own line of thought, there were so many. He began to lose hold of himself. The name Sephiroth no longer seemed to be his own. There were hundreds of thousands of names going through his head, each telling it was his name. In his last moments before he slipped into unconsciousness, Sephiroth realized why it was that victims of Lifestream exposure became empty shells. They didn't even know who they were. Hojo would have been proud…


	3. Chapter Two

Sephiroth circled slowly around his opponent. His challenger was masked and clad in black ninja gear, and wielded two short swords. Sephiroth was also in the ninja gear, and he too was masked. And, of course, he wielded two short swords for the fight. He was locked in a match- up that Godo had randomly thrown together. He didn't know whom exactly he was fighting, but he was willing to bet it was Staniv, Godo's top student. Ever since Sephiroth had woken up from his coma Staniv had been jealous of how much attention Godo paid to Sephiroth. Before Sephiroth had come Staniv had it all, yet Sephiroth showed amazing potential with the blade. His reflexes, speed, agility, power, balance, coordination, and basically everything imaginable was above what most people achieved in a lifetime, and as far as Godo knew Sephiroth was completely untrained. Since then Staniv had lost the spotlight, and he made the grudge he harbored towards Sephiroth no secret. Then again, Sephiroth didn't hide his distaste for Staniv's cockiness. Godo claimed this match was random, but Sephiroth knew Godo all too well. This was to teach Staniv and him a lesson. Well, Sephiroth was just happy to get his chance to beat up on Staniv.  
Sephiroth continued to circle his opponent, and all his foe did was stand there until Sephiroth could quite literally stab him in the back. Definitely Staniv. He'd have to pay for that mistake. Sephiroth lunged at Staniv, positioning his blades so that the attack wouldn't kill Staniv. Sephiroth would have enjoyed killing him, but living with humiliation was worse that death in Sephiroth's eyes. Unfortunately, Sephiroth didn't get to create that humiliation. Staniv whipped his swords behind his back in a cross pattern. Sephiroth's blades clanged against them and slipped to either side, thrusting into the air. Sephiroth managed to keep his balance and not collapse forward. In his moment of repositioning Staniv brought his swords back to their original positions before jabbing backwards. The hilt of one of his swords rammed into Sephiroth's gut and Sephiroth was forced to take another few moments to inhale and refill his lungs. In that time Staniv turned and brought his blade up. Unlike Sephiroth, Staniv appeared to have the intention to kill Sephiroth. Sephiroth could practically see the smirk that came to Staniv's lips, as Staniv was undoubtedly stopping for a moment to enjoy his triumph. A grave mistake.  
Sephiroth snapped his head up and into Staniv's chin. Staniv stumbled back and Sephiroth swung the flat of his blade straight into Staniv's head. Staniv fell to the ground from the blow and didn't get up. He wasn't dead, he wasn't even unconscious, just humiliated. He made an attempt to get up in the time allotted but Sephiroth raised his boot and kicked it into Staniv's chest. He planted it there firmly, keeping Staniv from getting up. Staniv reached for his swords, which he had dropped. Sephiroth raised his foot from Staniv's chest and crushed Staniv's outstretched hand with it. Staniv screamed in pain, and Sephiroth enjoyed that thoroughly. He twisted his good until he heard the distinctive snap he had been looking for.  
"Stop! That's enough, Sephiroth!"  
Sephiroth peered over to Godo, who had a cold look on his face. He was obviously most displeased with Sephiroth's.extremity. Had it been anyone else in Wutai who had asked him to stop, Sephiroth would have kept going, but he respected Godo. Besides, he had seen Godo in action, and Sephiroth that wouldn't be able to beat him in a swordfight, yet. So Sephiroth freed Staniv's hand. Staniv immediately grasped it with his good hand and began to flex his wrist. He then began to get up when Sephiroth lashed out with his foot and bashed in his chin again. Staniv was knocked back onto the mat.  
"Sephiroth! When I say stop, I demand that you stop!" Godo yelled, the cold anger having become red-hot. Sephiroth backed away from Staniv and looked at Godo. He was surprised when he saw that, standing next to Godo, was Staniv. His gaze darted back to his opponent. He had been sure that it was Staniv. So, who had he been fighting?  
His opponent took off his mask and revealed his identity. It turned out Sephiroth had been fighting Gorki. A look of shame came to Sephiroth. He wasn't an expert with short swords, everyone knew that, but still, to have almost been defeated by Gorki. It was true that Gorki had the potential to become one of Godo's top students, yet in the present he was still amongst the bottom half of Godo's protégés. Sephiroth looked over to Staniv, who was doing his best not to laugh. Sephiroth's eyes narrowed and he gave Staniv a look colder than ice. Staniv was undaunted and returned the stare. An idea came to Sephiroth. He stooped down and grabbed Gorki's short swords and threw them at Staniv. Staniv caught both and walked onto the mat Sephiroth was standing on. The two slowly circled around each other, waiting for the other to strike. Just as Sephiroth prepared to move in to attack a long sword jutted out in front of him. Sephiroth was barely able to stop himself before impaling himself on the blade. Sephiroth saw that Godo had been the one to stop the fight. He backed off and dropped his swords, as did Staniv. A stern look was present on Godo's face, and it looked as though he was about to deliver one of his infamous lectures on the "three main faults of mankind".  
"Pride," Godo looked over at Sephiroth, "cockiness," Godo looked to Gorki, "and arrogance." Godo turned to Staniv. "These are the three main faults of mankind. We need some pride. That is true. However, too much pride gives us unneeded shame, humiliation, and provides us with arrogance and cockiness. Sephiroth, you have far too much pride. You believe that every battle is vital, because, in your eyes, a single loss is something to be ashamed of. To you, one loss, no matter how minor, is the end of the world. I picked this match to teach you a lesson. Gorki's expertise is with short swords, and you have made little progress with their use. I was hoping that you would lose, but your victory confirms my other reasons for this match-up.  
"Gorki, you hold the fault of cockiness. The battle could have been easily won for you, but you stopped, allowing Sephiroth time to recover. That is what cockiness does, it makes us think that we have won, no matter what, when, in all truth, we have lost. As long as we are cocky, we shall always lose. If you do not lose your cockiness, Gorki, you will never come close to reaching your true potential.  
"And Staniv, you hold the worst fault of all, arrogance. You believe that you are better than other people, and every time you believe that you are better than someone, you become worse than that person. You might be at the top of my class now, but your arrogance causes you to become complacent. You have barely trained this week, while Sephiroth has trained six hours a day. He already has an edge over you considering how naturally talented he is. Give him time to refine that skill and he will quickly surpass you, as will everyone else in this class.  
"There is one cure to all three maladies. This is humility. Learn it, experience it, and teach it to others. When we are humble, we are at our best, because we seek to become the best that we can be. That is all. Class is dismissed."  
The class filed out of the pagoda, heading to their homes, recreational areas, perhaps even the mountains to pray. Sephiroth did not leave, knowing that Godo wanted to see him. Besides, he lived in the pagoda anyways. After everyone else had left, Godo walked over to Sephiroth.  
"How are you feeling?" Godo asked.  
"I'm fine. Still no memories. All I can remember is my name. It just seems to be ingrained into my mind."  
"You are lucky to have retained even that. You are the first known person to ever come out of a Lifestream-induced coma, let alone remember your name. Still, I would have thought that the amnesia would have been temporary. It has been over a month now since you woke up."  
"Well, I do almost remember something. I'm on a narrow beam. It's made out of metal, and rusting in several places. I'd like to say that I remember more, but that's really it. For some reason though, I just keep having images of that beam flashing through my eyes."  
"It matters not. The meaning of that image will become clear with time, and your memories will return. You just have to have faith that they will."  
"Right." Sephiroth nodded his confirmation as well before heading up into his quarters. Perhaps he'd train a little, then go to sleep. It was getting fairly dark.  
  
Sephiroth tossed and turned in his sleep. Everything, it was all coming back to him. The memories came back, one by one, and then the last one fell into place. He was standing on the beam, fighting the rebels, and they were the ones to knock him off. He sailed helplessly through the sky, and the Mako came closer and closer.  
Sephiroth woke up with a cry on his lips. A cold sweat was on his forehead, and the unusually humid air made the atmosphere rather sticky. A light breeze carried through the tranquil night, providing a frigid chill for Sephiroth. Despite the cold, Sephiroth felt red-hot. His anger was growing, consuming him. The people of Wutai, they had betrayed him in the worst of ways. First they tried to kill him, and then they took advantage of him. They thought that just because he had no memories they could mold him into a warrior to fight for their cause. Sephiroth would prove that you could not betray him and expect to get away with it. Sephiroth quickly got out of bed, putting on his more favored attire. It was a black coat with silver epaulets. It showed power and nobility. He then grabbed one of the broadswords that decorated the wall, choosing it for its qualities as far as hand-to-hand combat went, and for its six materia slots, all linked. He went over to his dresser and opened up a hidden compartment, in which he hid his good materia, all of it naturally occurring, of course. He hastily picked the best of the bunch and slipped it into his new sword and his pockets. He had managed to get twenty of the colored orbs. Four independent, four summon, four support, four command, and four magic. Just as he was about to close the compartment, he noticed the fire materia that was sitting in the compartment. It wasn't quite as good as the time materia he had picked over it, but on such a cold night it would be a shame for the villagers to freeze.  
  
Fire blanketed all of Wutai. The villagers panicked, running to and fro. Godo tried to establish order, but it was useless. He then realized that he hadn't thought to get his daughter Yuffie to safety. She was still only three, and wouldn't be able to get herself to safety. Godo rushed to his home to find that it was untouched by the fire. In front of it was Sephiroth, who stood watching the blaze, sword in hand.  
"Sephiroth! I'm glad you're okay. When I saw that the pagoda was on fire I thought you had perished with it."  
"Old man, of course I'm okay. Why would I set fire to the pagoda when I was still in it?" Sephiroth said, before turning to face Godo. In his sword was a fire materia, glowing as it prepared to unleash another devastating attack. Godo's eyes widened.  
"But.why? Why would you do this?"  
"Why else? It was this town that sent me into the Lifestream. First you try to kill me, and then you try to use me! I'm not your toy! You treat me as though I were some kind of experiment! I won't take it! Now, witness the destruction of your home!" Sephiroth pulled the materia out of his sword and directed its power at Godo's house. Unwilling to stand while Sephiroth went any further, Godo drew his blade and ran in front of Sephiroth. Sephiroth hesitated for a moment, and then the glow in the materia faded. Sephiroth put it back into his sword, then raised his blade in a challenge to Godo. Godo looked back at his house. It wasn't on fire just yet, but the rampant fire was nearing it. He knew that he could beat Sephiroth, but not quickly enough to save his daughter. He backed away, heading towards the door of his house. Sephiroth dashed around him and blocked Godo's entrance to the door.  
"Come on, Godo. Haven't you ever wondered whether or not you could beat me in a battle? I'm using my best weapon, and you're using your best weapon. It should be interesting. The best part is how high the stakes are. You lose, and your precious family dies. I lose, and I lose my chance at a more proper vengeance. Of course, there's a time limit to this match, as there is to any good match-up. I give you.two minutes before the fire I was so kind to create overtakes your house. Three minutes, and we'll both be trapped in a ring of fire. Of course, with my materia, I could easily walk through the fire, so for me, the important thing is to make this match very, very long. For you, it's important to end this quickly. Now, let the match begin!"  
Sephiroth stood in front of the door, waiting for Godo's attack. The agony he was going to inflict on Godo was something to revel in. He quietly began to prepare the fire materia, coupling it with the elemental materia in his bangle. Godo grew urgent and impatient with Sephiroth's game, so he began the attack. A fast and furious combination of strikes came Sephiroth's way, and while he could have easily countered them all, he chose to let himself be beaten. Godo stood over him, the tip of his blade at Sephiroth's throat. Sephiroth was interested in whether or not Godo would be able to kill his favorite student. The cold metal of the blade pressed lightly against his bare throat, and Godo began to circle around Sephiroth, towards the door to his house. It appeared he couldn't bring himself to do it. So noble, so pathetic. After the blade was a safe distance from his throat, Sephiroth leapt up and unleashed a fire spell straight on Godo's house. The material easily caught fire, and as Godo rushed in to save Yuffie before it was too late, Sephiroth made his retreat. As he was about to complete his escape, he found that just as Godo couldn't kill him, he couldn't leave Godo and his family to die. He pulled out his ice materia and cast a spell directly over the part of Godo's house that was on fire. The ice instantly melted into water and doused the flames. Shocked with his remorse, Sephiroth then ran as fast as he could, away from Wutai. He never looked back.  
  
Several miles away from Wutai, he ran into an abandoned boat. Its owner must have left when he noticed the fire. As far away from Wutai as he was, Sephiroth could see the fire, glowing in the distance. It had lit the way for Sephiroth, and he stopped to utter his thanks. In one fell swoop he had gotten his revenge and covered his escape. However, Sephiroth wasn't done with making the rebels pay. They had knowingly betrayed him, and for that he would hunt them down until every last one of them was dead. He realized the best way to do that was to join up with Shinra, and the nearest accessible post was Rocket Town. So Sephiroth climbed into the boat and pulled out the navigational instruments. He plotted a course to Rocket Town, and set sail into the vast oceans, lit up not by the moon, but by the fires of Wutai. 


	4. Chapter Three

Author's Note- Oh, how I detest doing this. I don't exactly enjoy writing my ramblings when, if you're reading this, you want to read, well, the story. Anyways, my account won't upload italics, so therefore thoughts will be offset by triple hyphens. Huzzah, huzzah.  
  
Sephiroth landed quietly on one of the beaches near Rocket Town. He then made the short walk to Rocket Town, brandishing his sword all the way. Godo had revealed that there were several rebel battalions in the area, lurking in the shadows, preparing to ambush anyone who crossed their paths. Sephiroth managed to find a dozen or so of the rebels, and he took great pleasure in killing them. He then reached the gates to Rocket Town, looking in awe at the centerpiece of the town. It was a rocket that was being built by Shinra, and despite being incomplete its height was already intimidating. The true reason for desiring space travel was not lost on Sephiroth. A technology-heavy company such as Shinra naturally had several very powerful trump cards, but if they weren't used precisely, they would basically go to waste. From space, recon and missile-guidance systems could come together as one, safely pointing out enemy positions and ordering hellish strikes at key locations, and then insuring that the fireworks went off in just the right place. A brilliant plan, if a bit too ambitious.  
Sephiroth then passed the gate, and walked towards the temporary headquarters Shinra had placed in Rocket Town, built so that their little project, into which quite a bit of money must have gone, was given the chance to pay off. Shinra guarded the place around the clock. As he walked towards the HQ, one of the townspeople noticed his sword, which Sephiroth had forgotten to sheath. Blood was slowly dripping from it; it appeared Sephiroth had forgotten to clean it too. The people naturally panicked, thinking Sephiroth was out to get them, undoubtedly believing that he was a rebel. Sephiroth let them run about and flee. Trying to stop them would be futile.  
The problem came when a group of Shinra MPs came to check out the cause of the disturbance. Sephiroth attempted to explain the situation, not desiring to kill them, full-heartedly anyways, but it was no use. They raised their guns and told him to drop the weapon. Killing them would be easy. If his recently returned memories were correct, he was SOLDIER, first class, and part of a very elite group. He couldn't say the same for the MPs.  
Sephiroth adopted his battle stance, one that he had developed for its offensive and defensive capabilities. The MPs laughed; amused with the rebel who thought he could beat their high-tech guns with the archaic sword. Sephiroth then made one quick, precisely aimed slice, and suddenly they weren't laughing. They couldn't really. Sephiroth had cut through their voice boxes. They couldn't do much of anything, except for "play" dead. Sephiroth walked past their still bodies, somewhat disappointed with how easily they had succumbed to his power.  
Sephiroth continued to stand in the center of town, waiting for someone to issue a challenge. Finally someone came. He wasn't a soldier. He had jet-black hair, and was dressed reputedly in a custom-tailored suit. He seemed to be of great importance, and Sephiroth believed he remembered meeting him before, but he couldn't place a name. It seemed as though some memories remained elusive. Regardless, Sephiroth plucked one of his command materia from its slot in his sword. He began to prepare it for use when the man finished walking up to him. He looked over Sephiroth, then whipped out a silver pistol and quickly fired off eight rounds. It was too little, too late. Sephiroth unleashed a Matra Magic spell, and the energy missiles destroyed each of the bullets before Sephiroth's opponent was also hit by the attack. He stood still for a second, and then collapsed to the ground, unconscious.  
  
Reno sipped at his coffee while rubbing his throbbing temples. The problem with alcohol was, no matter how much fun you had while drinking it, it always came back to haunt you the next morning. It seemed very similar to some of Reno's one-night stands. Then there was the fact that it was really killing his liver. Naturally, that was where being a Turk really paid off. There just wasn't a job with better health benefits. The dental plan was nice too. All this coffee he drank while experiencing the nightmare of hangovers was beginning to stain his teeth.  
Someone then knocked on the door, and Reno clutched his head in pain. The person then knocked again, and Reno told them to come in, angry at the disturbance. The person turned out to be one of the aides, busily running from office to office, delivering messages. Considering the pain he had caused Reno, this aide better have important news.  
"Reno, sir! News from Rocket Town, sir!" the aide yelled. The loud noise gave Reno a splitting headache, so he yelled at the aide.  
"Be quiet!" Reno then clutched at his head again. He himself had been too loud. After popping a few painkillers down his throat, praying that they acted fast, Reno asked what news the aide brought him.  
"Sir, it appears as though a lone rebel has taken hold of Rocket Town. HQ there is asking for you to authorize for SOLDIER to be sent in."  
"Ugh. That's Tseng's job. Let him handle it."  
"That's the other thing, sir. Tseng was running a performance evaluation in Rocket Town. Authorities say that he attempted to stop the rebel, but was...knocked unconscious. That last part is confidential, and is not to be spread."  
Reno then burst into laughter. It gave him a headache, but still...Tseng had always lectured him on battle, and had always talked about how by following his methods a person became unstoppable. And Tseng was his boss, and had always tried so desperately to command Rude and Reno's respect. Speaking of Rude, he would absolutely love this. Reno managed to gain control of himself to the point that he could take the authorization papers and the status report and dismiss the aide. Long after the aide left Reno continued to laugh.  
When he had finally stopped laughing, Reno phoned Rude and told him he had matters to discuss with him, and then he told Rude the news. Rude began to laugh uncontrollably, just like Reno had, so Reno set the phone down, receiver end up so that he would know when Rude was done laughing. As he waited he reviewed the Rocket Town case. He found it odd that while the rebels had been content to lie in ambush of Rocket Town for the past six or so months, that they finally had the guts to invade Rocket Town. And, why send one person to do the job when they had hundreds available? Besides, the HQ was still near its full staff, they could handle one person, no matter how good he was. Reno filled out the papers and signed under the veto portion of the paper, using the specialized ink pen he had been given upon joining the Turks. Supposedly it prevented anyone from being fraudulent with his signature. Tseng would give him a lecture if he didn't use it, if Tseng was able to get out of his current predicament. Reno laughed lightly thinking about it again. Reno had no fear of Tseng, but the guy knew how to throw a hissy fit.  
  
As his eyes opened, Tseng of the Turks immediately took in his surroundings. Deciding he was in a hospital from the sterile white appearance of the room, Tseng sought a button to call the nurse, as he really wanted a painkiller. Tseng rubbed his head in an attempt to relieve the pain, but his efforts were in vain.  
A nurse walked in and asked why she was paged, and Tseng was quick to answer. "Two things. First, some aspirin or morphine or whatever painkiller you have. And second, I want any record of my having been here erased. Those drunkards Rude and Reno would have a field day if they ever found out about this. And do it quick! Word might have already spread."  
"Yes, I can do both of those things with ease. Though the second might take a bit of, ah, insurance to get done." was the nurse's reply.  
"If you're attempting to get me to bribe you, I wouldn't try it. You do realize just how much more power I have than you do. After all, I'm a Turk."  
"Oh! Sorry, this doesn't really need to go on any sort of record about me, would it?"  
"No, not at all. Though, it will take a bit of insurance to get done."  
The nurse quickly paid Tseng off, gave him morphine, and got him out of the hospital as soon as possible.  
As soon as he was out of the hospital, Tseng laughed lightly at the stupidity of people. ---As though the job of a Turk is actually to keep records of fools like her. If I wanted to do something that mundane, I would have joined Reeve and his band of do-gooders.--- Tseng then remembered something, namely how he was utterly beaten in a fight by some silver-haired impudent brat. Tseng soon spotted the man and confronted him.  
"Who the hell do you think you are, fighting against a Turk? If you weren't so lucky, I'd have killed you, boy." At this, Sephiroth chuckled and decided to set this.Turk, straight.  
"Frankly, I did nothing. You were the one who pulled out the gun. I merely defended myself from attack. Also, you're the lucky one; if I had decided to use Matra Magic at maximum power you'd be dead right now. One last thing, I came here to fight with Shinra, not against it, so call off whatever back-up you no doubt have called in by now."  
"You're a real piece of work. You waltz on in here, kill six of my soldiers, knock me unconscious, and you actually think I believe you when you say that you want to fight with Shinra. I know your type. You try to trick people into escorting you into Midgar, and then you go and run some lunatic kamikaze mission on one of the reactors. It's been done before, and multiple times at that. Might I also point out that all your missions failed?"  
"I'm not trying to trick you, whoever you are."  
"Tseng, of the Turks. Sound familiar?"  
"Right. Anyways, I don't need to go to Midgar. I just want to rejoin SOLDIER."  
"Rejoin SOLDIER! That's the worst lie I've ever heard. No one who joins SOLDIER ever has to rejoin!"  
"It's true. I was once part of SOLDIER, first class."  
"You want to stick to your lie, eh? Well, we can run a quick test to see whether or not you really were part of SOLDIER." Tseng rummaged through his pockets before pulling out a tiny device. It appeared to be a miniature substance analyzer of sorts. A needle popped out of it, and Sephiroth allowed Tseng to poke it into him. Tseng retracted the needle and scraped some of the blood that came from Sephiroth's little wound onto a slide. He popped it into a tray in the analyzer and was shocked at the readings.  
"What the. who the hell are you?! Your intake of.no. There's no way! Sephiroth! We thought you were dead!"  
Sephiroth was somewhat surprised that Tseng had been able to identify him from a substance analyzer, but if that gained Tseng's trust, he'd have to let it slide.  
"Yes, Tseng, it's me. As you can tell, I'm very much alive. How'd you know it was me?"  
"You.don't remember, do you?"  
"Remember what?"  
"Nothing. Tell me, do you have any memories of a man named Hojo?"  
"Yes. He's my father. Not that I could call him my father. I heard about him in the news almost constantly, but I never saw him."  
"Never? Not once?"  
"No."  
Tseng had to mask his unease. Sephiroth didn't have a clue as to what Hojo had done to him. Sephiroth's psyche had been closely watched, and it was highly volatile. He now obviously trusted Shinra, so if he figured out what Hojo, and by proxy Shinra, had done, he would come after Shinra, and every person in his payroll. For the most part Tseng didn't mind that, but he treasured his life dearly, and would rather not be killed in a one-man purge.  
Amidst this fear came all sorts of ideas. He was unable to get back to Midgar in the first place, he had been bluffing with his earlier claim, so perhaps Sephiroth would be powerful enough to get him back there. The thought intrigued him. And, as an alternative, he could have Sephiroth kill all the rebels outside or Rocket Town. Better yet, do both. The rebels were beginning to gather near the north entrance to Mt. Nibel, and Tseng needed to get to Nibelheim desperately, so that he might check up on Hojo and Reno. Reno was very important, as Tseng really needed to exert his authority over the young Turk. He had fallen into line with Rude, and perhaps while Rude was not physically present Tseng could convince him that Rude just wasn't a good role model. Checking up on Hojo was always most important, though. President Shinra himself had asked Tseng to do so. Recent studies of Hojo's activities showed many unaccounted hours. He was up to something, as usual, and it was high time for Tseng to figure out who the scientist was experimenting on now. And Tseng knew that it was a person Hojo was experimenting on. He had a unique fascination with manipulating the human body.  
Tseng brushed the thought aside and entered Rocket Town HQ. He signed a couple of papers canceling out any threat status assigned to Sephiroth, and then went to his filing cabinet. He took the cabinet whenever he traveled to other towns. He used a key around his neck to open the second to the top drawer, and slid out the drawer. He looked over the files. Somewhere was a specific series of files. He found them. They were bios of miscellaneous members of SOLDIER, filed by their last initial. They didn't follow the regular alphabetical system in which everything had been filed. Their last initials, used one after another, spelled out J-E-N-O-V-A. Immediately after the last file was an unlabeled file. Inside it was another key. Tseng took it and unlocked the top drawer. It was sparsely filled, with only twenty-six files, but all of them were on the same person, and the project he was part of. They were all on Sephiroth.  
Tseng turned to the very last file, which was an in-depth description of the time following the harvester incident. Six months had gone by before Shinra had finally declared Sephiroth dead, having hope after hope that he would magically resurface. Not that Tseng could blame him. Funding for Sephiroth had cost Shinra an arm and a leg during a time that funds needed to go into the war. Had the money been invested in research for safer ways for Shinra's military force to undergo treatment to become part of SOLDIER, perhaps the standards wouldn't have needed to be so strict, and SOLDIER would be more of a commodity. Still, the investment in Sephiroth just might pay off now. At the least, they would get something instead of nothing.  
Tseng sighed and closed the filing cabinet, returning everything to the way it was. He thought of reporting to President Shinra Sephiroth's reappearance, but news of this importance couldn't risk being leaked out. He would have to do so in person. One more reason to head to Midgar.  
  
Tseng knew that despite Sephiroth's awesome power, the two of them alone would never be enough to get all the way to Midgar. So, instead of acting foolishly and heading out immediately, Tseng formed a squad, all of whom were at the rank of SOLDIER First Class, to go with them. Tseng made Sephiroth their leader, reinstating him as a member of SOLDIER's elite first class, and he also made him a major so that he topped the others in rank, therefore drowning any protests of having to be led by someone who was still technically under them, not to mention the threats of pulling rank on Sephiroth. Tseng only privately acknowledged what fools they were to believe he could actually promote anyone, let alone make them a member of SOLDIER. The closest thing amongst his duties to doing such a thing was finding candidates for SOLDIER, and even then he couldn't put that candidate amongst their ranks. Tseng personally suspected that such limitations were due to Hojo's foolish ideas that only a scientist could determine whether or not someone would survive the treatment people underwent to become part of SOLDIER, despite the fact that Tseng guessed correctly around 80% of the time, Hojo only 30%. Hojo just had too much power due to his experiments on Jenova, not to mention all of the mysterious research he had shortly after Professor Gast was done in. Tseng didn't need to have the mind of a Turk to guess what happened there.  
Tseng then shook his head, emptying his head of anything that wasn't related to the mission at hand. Tseng then focused on Sephiroth, who was debating heatedly with a captain over whether they should flank the rebels blockading the Nibel Mountains or if it would be best to attack in echelon, using three groups of four. Sephiroth was decidedly pro-flanking, while the SOLDIER wouldn't have it.  
"Look Sephiroth, the fact of the matter is that the entrance to the Mt. Nibel is too narrow a passage to effectively flank our enemies! However, if we attack in echelon we can attack in rapid succession, which will strain and then overwhelm our opponents." Upon hearing this, Sephiroth unsheathed his sword and jabbed it at the Shinra captain, stopping the blade just as it hit the cloth of the man's uniform. The captain, obviously petrified, retreated two steps and quickly pulled out his own sword, the standardized Hardedge. He made a quick thrust and knocked Sephiroth's blade down before making a stabbing motion at Sephiroth only to find that Sephiroth had already brought his sword into a defensive position. Sephiroth blocked the attack and then followed up, making a neat cut into the man's hand. The Shinra captain dropped the sword in pain and clutched his hand. Sephiroth, rather amused at this display of weakness, shook his head before pulling out a Restore materia and healing his challenger's hand.  
Sephiroth then sheathed his sword and said, "If anyone else becomes so bold as to defy me again, I warn you now I won't settle for merely making a cut into your hand. Now then, let's move out, the sooner we flank those rebels, the better."  
  
Sephiroth had never liked surprises, so when he saw that the defense of the northern entrance to the Mt. Nibel had been raised from two to ten battalions it was only natural that he became rather angry. Now, if the added defense were the only issue at hand, Sephiroth would have been fine, but when someone who he outranked proved him wrong, that Sephiroth couldn't handle.  
"As I said, we can't expect to survive by merely flanking them. Now, by attacking in echelon on the other hand."  
Being angry at this most unpleasant surprise, and having been fed up with the Shinra captain's insolence, Sephiroth took out his blade and quickly stabbed the man. As the man was dying, Sephiroth decided to set one thing straight, "Based on their numbers, we would never overwhelm them by attacking in echelon. The only thing that would be accomplished is our dying, us including our esteemed guest."  
Hearing this, Tseng became filled with rage at the man's suggestion of a plan that would kill him, so even though the wound Sephiroth inflicted was quite fatal, Tseng drew his pistol and shot the man seven times just in case. Satisfied when the man stopped convulsing in his death throes, Tseng tucked his pistol away. Then, somewhat embarrassed at his having lost his composure, Tseng put on a mask devoid of any anger so that it might not seem to the others like he lost control. ---It's just like Heidegger said Tseng thought, I either have to work on my temper or I'll never get respect from my colleagues.--- As he thought of this, Tseng envisioned Rude and Reno, making sure to put them into a bar. Although Reno was still only twenty, having such high status in Shinra had certain perks, including being able to bend certain rules. ---Therefore, Reno gets to destroy his brain and sully Shinra's reputation with his public drunkenness a year early.--- Tseng could do nothing to stop Reno, as he managed to command no respect over the ever-drunken Turk. Still, Reno was rather talented in his area of work, if a bit hypocritical at times.  
Tseng's mind then slowly wandered back to the rather critical situation at hand. As he gazed into the distance Tseng observed the enemy. So far the rebels hadn't spotted them, but it would be impossible to determine how long such luck would hold out. If they were seen a hail of arrows or bullets would likely kill them rather quickly, with either method they'd still be dead, a prospect Tseng most definitely did not enjoy.  
Tseng then saw movement out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head to see Sephiroth fiddling around with materia, taking out four materia, two in his sword and two in his bangle, and inserted four different materia. Sephiroth then stood and began to walk towards the enemy lines. Somewhat naturally, one member of Tseng's little escort protested against Sephiroth's choice of direction.  
"Are you crazy? Scouts will spot us the minute you make another step, and then we'll all be killed!"  
"Relax," Sephiroth replied, "just make sure you're protected from fire damage and you'll be fine. Just leave everything to me."  
Immediately after hearing this, the SOLDIER troops frantically began to search for equipment or materia that would absorb fire. Tseng merely pulled out a small box from his pocket, opened it, selected a ring adorned with a red gemstone, and slipped it on. Having access to a full set of elemental absorption rings was just another benefit of being a Turk.  
As for Sephiroth, the task at hand was much more stressful. Still, Sephiroth quickly ran through a series of exercises Godo had taught him to become cool and collected. When he felt his mind had attained perfect clarity, Sephiroth took out his sword and ran towards the enemy.  
It was interesting, the effect battle had on Sephiroth. Time seemed to almost slow down, and his senses were heightened beyond any normal human capability. He could hear the bows creaking as archers prepared to fire. He could see each individual sword reflecting light off of its blade. He could smell the acrid scent as gunpowder exploded. Most importantly, he could taste the victory at hand.  
Sephiroth easily strafed from side to side to dodge bullets and arrows headed at him, using his sword to deflect those he couldn't evade. As he began to close in Sephiroth also had to worry about the spears that his enemies began to throw in long arcs at him. Twisting, turning, weaving, moving from side to side, slashing and cutting and blocking with his sword Sephiroth was quite a sight. Nothing was able to hit him, no amount of ammunition or arrows or spears would ever stop Sephiroth. Then, finally, Sephiroth reached the front ranks. He targeted the closest person at hand and slashed with his sword. As he did so, a single materia within his sword began to glow a bright blue, and threads of blue light reached out from the materia to a linked magic materia, which in turn glowed green and extended its own thin beams of light. As the two joined the colors of both the materia and the light turned a bright orange. The color then extended across the blade of Sephiroth's sword, and the blade pulsed with an orange glow.  
Then the glow spread from the blade and the magic materia suddenly released energy, and fire sprang forth, encompassing the blade. The blade grew white hot at the flame, and when it hit the neck of Sephiroth's victim it easily sliced through the flesh, searing and instantly cauterizing the flesh and charring the bone. The sword then exited the man's neck just as quickly as it had entered. As Sephiroth's slashing movement ended the fire materia dispersed the energy, and sparks trailed from the sword in a dramatic manner.  
Sephiroth had slashed through the rebel's neck with such speed and precision that his head remained on his shoulders at first. The rebel himself probably didn't know what had happened, as his nerve endings had been destroyed before they could react and Sephiroth's blade had moved too quickly to be tracked by the eye. Then the rebel's eyes lolled upwards and his body collapsed forward, a noticeable black stump where the neck should have been. The heat of the still hot collarbone then ignited the grass, which was dry and withering from a drought, and the fire quickly spread. As he began to burn one rebel archer shot one last arrow, catching Sephiroth unaware. The arrow pierced into his left shoulder bone, and due to the proximity of the archer to Sephiroth the arrow had enough force to even go through the shoulder and protrude slightly out of Sephiroth's backside, the once silver tip now a deep crimson. Sephiroth glanced at the arrow without concern, not even taking the time to pull it out. As flames began to wreathe his body Sephiroth felt energy and vitality being restored to him due to the elemental-fire materia combination he had also put in his bangle. The fire eventually reached the arrow, and the wood blackened and slowly turned to ash. The metal tip grew too heavy for the ash to sustain and fell to the ground, the ash shortly joining it. As the normally lethal fire began to seal Sephiroth's shoulder wound Sephiroth felt a malicious grin come across his lips, and with each agonized scream as rebels began to burn that grin grew more and more sadistic. 


	5. Chapter Four

It didn't take long for the fire to burn all of the grass, nor did it take long for all of the bodies to burn. Rather thankfully, none of the now carbonized bodies belonged to a member of SOLDIER, so everyone was rather intact, albeit a bit shaken by Sephiroth's display of power. Still, after the shock wore off the soldiers began to grow a bit cocky, somewhat justified in their belief that Sephiroth was invincible. Even Tseng began to wonder why he had thought Sephiroth couldn't get him back to Midgar without anyone else's help.  
Sephiroth, on the other hand, was almost frightened. It was true that Godo had trained him to be the best warrior to ever live, and it was also true that for some reason he was far more powerful than anyone he had ever met, but none of this could truly explain to Sephiroth how he had been able to dodge those thousands upon thousands of weapons fired at him. Sephiroth had expected his actions to daunt the enemy with his boldness to the extent that he could come upon their forces before anyone dared to attack him. When all of those arrows had come down upon him he had actually feared for his life. Now, now he feared himself. Never would he have thought himself capable of that. In fact, he never would have imagined anyone else capable of that. Perhaps it was a sign from the Planet, a sign that he was superior to everyone else. ---Yes, I am superior. Not even Godo could stop me. Not even all of those thousands of soldiers could beat me. Not even the Planet itself could beat me. I've survived them all. There is nothing that can destroy me. All that opposes me shall perish. Indeed, I am supreme amongst all living within this mortal coil!---  
  
Passing through Mt. Nibel was an easy task. Few monsters ever dared to attack the traveling soldiers, and those that did met a quick death at Sephiroth's blade. Nonetheless, Tseng walked uneasily through the system of tunnels that would lead to Nibelheim.  
---Jenova is here. If Sephiroth finds her the inherent Jenova cells within him might react. If that happened he could temporarily lose sanity, and if that were to happen I would be in serious danger. Without any restrictions, without anything that would register me as an ally instead of a foe...death would most certainly claim my mortal soul.---  
Tseng tried and tried not to think about what would happen if Sephiroth visited the reactor and visited her, but the thoughts raced through his head. It had been proven that people with Jenova cells within them were somehow affected by being close to Jenova. Some showed no symptoms, and some weren't affected at all, yet as proximity to Jenova and the amount of Jenova cells within the body increased so did the probability, and severity, of a person being affected. For someone with as many Jenova cells as Sephiroth, the chances of his being affected were absolute, and the affects would be devastating. Insanity, increased power, near-invincibility, all were proven affects of Jenova.  
Noticing that Tseng was deep in thought, and by that deeper in thought than he usually was, Sephiroth decided to inquire what seemed to be on Tseng's mind. When asked, Tseng merely placed his hand to his chin and increased the furrows in his brows. He blankly stared at the ground, turning on the winding path through Mt. Nibel when he needed to rather absent-mindedly. Sephiroth was about to ask again, but then realized that if Tseng didn't answer his question the first time, the odds were rather low that he would the second time.  
Sephiroth himself then went into deep though, pondering over what Tseng was thinking of. He decided to use a skill Godo had taught him. Through deep concentration he could pick up on the fundamental auras of people. When Sephiroth had asked what that meant, Godo had explained it as being able to detect the dominant emotion in someone else: fear, anger, happiness, the list went on. When Sephiroth examined Tseng's aura, he could see fear. It was strong on Tseng. With others the aura would usually be somewhat conflicted, yet fear held complete dominion over Tseng at the time. Sephiroth found himself yet again pondering over what would make the almost always cool and composed Tseng so afraid.  
As he thought, a soft buzzing sound began to grow in his mind. The sound slowly increased in pitch and volume, and eventually it became a sharp, constant ringing sensation. Sephiroth fell to his knees and without knowing it put his hands to his ears, trying to make the noise stop. Through the midst of it all he could hear a heartbeat, slow at first, but then becoming faster and faster. Sephiroth began to scream in agony as the shrill noise instigated wave after wave of pain in his head. He then felt a sudden sharp sensation go through his body, and with that the world turned black.  
  
Tseng paced nervously through the inn at Nibelheim. After Sephiroth had blacked out the other members of SOLDIER had carried him through the rest of Mt. Nibel. After arriving at Nibelheim they had then carried him to the inn and laid him down on the bed. Tseng had decided to stay and monitor Sephiroth while the others left to report to the nearest Shinra post, Shinra Mansion. Tseng could have gone with them, and eventually he would need to go to Shinra Mansion and complete his current assignment, but if Sephiroth woke up still under the affects of Jenova, Tseng would have to insure to give him an "anti-Jenova vaccine". The fact that the only such "vaccine" was really just a solution concentrated mainly from very lethal cyanides didn't matter all that much to Tseng when it came to the preservation of his life.  
Tseng then began to fall into deep thought. Such habits seemed to have become characteristic of Tseng lately. This time he began to wonder about Sephiroth's episode. He had known that Sephiroth's cell make-up was rather highly concentrated with Jenova cells and Mako. After all, he had been treated with the two from conception. Still, how had the main body of Jenova affected him when he had been so far away from her? Tseng couldn't figure that out, although he had no doubt Sephiroth had been affected. Tseng eventually gave up and, seeing as how it was now night, turned in for the day.  
  
Most everyone had peaceful dreams that night, but as for Sephiroth; the lingering effects of Jenova haunted his dreams. He found himself alone on the top of a hill. At the base of the hill were people who wore raggedy clothing and showed signs of starvation and within some there was a sense of madness. Within all of their eyes were infinite pools of despair. They were all ranting about something; from the looks of it Sephiroth guessed they were begging for mercy. But why were they begging him for mercy? As Sephiroth tried to figure it out, his hand, acting independently from his body, crept over to the hilt of his sword. Instead of his usual blade, though, he drew a long and slender sword. With incredible speed the sword was drawn, and on it was a dry, red residue. At first Sephiroth thought it was rust, but on second notice he found it to be blood.  
Then he suddenly ran. He hadn't wanted to, he just did. It seemed like he was trapped within his own body, unable to control anything. He then leapt forward and came down at the base of the hill where all of the people were. They seemed relieved, but their relief lasted only a second. Sephiroth whipped his sword to the right, decapitating one of those begging for mercy. He then moved, as swift as light, and slaughtered them all. --- It's...an execution. They were begging for mercy, they were begging for their lives.--- Sephiroth tried to take control of his body, but it was futile. He had no control over the ruthless form he was in.  
Moments later, all of his victims were dead. Some were in one piece, some in two, some in many. Sephiroth looked down and saw the ground, tainted a crimson red from the bloodbath Sephiroth had created. The scene then shifted to what appeared to be the inside of a Mako reactor. There was an ornamental angel statue lying on the ground, and what was once that statue's base stood in front of some...thing. It was humanoid, and it almost had beauty, but its skin was blue for some reason.  
Then pain flashed through Sephiroth. "Tifa, my mom, my hometown, everything. Give it back!" Sephiroth looked down and saw a giant metal blade sticking through his stomach. Why had someone stabbed him, and what was he talking about? Try as he might, he just couldn't think of anything. Eventually, the blade retreated from Sephiroth's stomach, and he fell to the ground, feeling the cold metal stick to the wound in his chest, from which blood now flowed freely. The scene shifted back to the foot of the hill, and the people Sephiroth had killed were alive once more, vengeance etched into their features. They closed in on him and proceeded to beat him in his weakened state. After a while, satisfied that Sephiroth's life would soon end, they left him to die. Sephiroth used what little energy he had left to roll onto his back, and it was then that he saw it.  
A giant meteor, approaching the planet. Upon it stood the blue creature Sephiroth had seen in the reactor earlier in this twisted nightmare. The thing appeared to almost be riding the meteor, hoping to be part of the catastrophic event that would occur should the giant stone plummet to the Earth. Sephiroth then felt the ground begin to soften, and then turn into a liquid. He sunk into it until he hit a green current, the Lifestream. The agony once more went through Sephiroth's body as he was carried through its winding path. Soon enough he was dumped into a pit, and the Lifestream swirled around him and crystallized, forming a neat crystal. Then a black orb pierced the shell of the crystal, and the crystal suddenly became too heavy and crashed downward. Instead of stopping upon hitting the ground, it passed through it. The crystal shed layer after layer until Sephiroth was completely free of its grasp, and all the while he traveled further downward.  
After a long, torturous fall Sephiroth finally stopped. He was in what appeared to be some sort of vortex. There was no ground, only space, and that space changed colors from green to red to blue. Sephiroth could hear chanting in an ancient language, and he felt more vulnerable than he had ever felt before. His fear grew by the second, until Sephiroth was paralyzed by it. Then, when his fear and vulnerability reached their highest extent, something materialized in front of him.  
It looked like Sephiroth, only very different. The hair was pure white instead of silver, and the eyes were filled with pure hatred and menace. The left arm was fine, but in place of the right arm was a wing. Instead of legs, the manipulated version of Sephiroth had six white, narrow wings that were tipped with violet. Sephiroth was awed at the sight. It imposed fear and spoke of death, yet it had an almost regal, majestic edge to it.  
Then black appeared at the corner of Sephiroth's vision, and it slowly advanced, consuming Sephiroth's sight. When the darkness was complete, the blue figure returned again, this time noticeably missing a head. Sephiroth felt something in his hand, and glanced at it to see why the blue figure had no head. Sephiroth felt a wave of revolt go through his body, and he shut his eyes tightly. He could feel his presence in this world of nightmares begin to fade, but just as consciousness was about to return to him, he heard a single sentence.  
"The future awaits you, my puppet."  
  
Sephiroth sprang upright with a scream of sheer terror. He found that he was breathing rather heavily and that his heart was pounding in his chest. Sweat slowly dribbled down his face before dropping into the bed sheets, which were cold and clammy. He climbed out of his bed and limped into a bathroom. He turned on the sink and inundated his face in cold water. He then took a towel and dried his face. As the towel cleared his eyes Sephiroth froze. Within the mirror was the face of the dream version of him, with white hair and eyes full of spite. He rubbed his eyes and when he looked back into the mirror his face greeted him. He shook his head and, try as he might, couldn't stop the fit of laughter that came next. What was happening to him? He was becoming more and more insane by the minute!  
"Whatever might you be laughing about, Sephiroth?" said an all too familiar voice. Even without turning around or glancing at the mirror in front of him, Sephiroth easily identified it as Tseng.  
"Oh, nothing much, Tseng." Sephiroth replied. He didn't need to tell Tseng about his nightmare, nor did he want to. Besides, it was just a dream. It had about as much grounding in reality as some of the fairy tales that young children had been told. Sephiroth then thought about those age- old fairy tales. He had never been told them. There was never a real parental presence in his life, and Sephiroth had never had friends as a child. For the most part, he had been isolated, and on purpose at that. Under Hojo's orders, the only friends Sephiroth could make were the sword and books on the great military leaders. Supposedly it was for his own good, but Sephiroth found it fascinating that someone like Hojo, who had never bothered to incorporate himself into Sephiroth's life, could decide what exactly was best for Sephiroth.  
Sephiroth then thought of something. Supposedly Hojo was in Shinra Mansion. Perhaps he could pay his father a visit.  
  
Hojo stood over his newest specimen, taking notes in his journal. The subject still failed to respond to any stimuli. Hojo took out a knife, and slowly ran the blade across his subject's stomach. A red line followed the knife, and blood slowly oozed from the wound, but the specimen didn't move. Hojo glanced over to some of his machinery. It was all hooked up to the specimen's body, looking for changes in heart rate, respiratory rate, brain wave patterns, anything possible. None of the readings showed any changes. Hojo swore under his breath. It was so hard to bring life back into someone when they weren't even aware of what has happening to them.  
The charts then jumped up and down. Heart rate was up from 80 bpm to 143 bpm. Respiratory rate up 167%. Brain waves consistent with fear and....joy? Odd, but Hojo was grateful that the specimen was showing some signs of life.  
The intercom in Hojo's lab then buzzed three times in rapid succession. Someone wanted to visit him. Hojo quickly exited his basement laboratory, making sure to lock the door behind him, and headed up to see who was visiting him. ---This better not be Tseng.--- Hojo thought, ---If I have to undergo even one more of his insufferable progress reports, I'll see to it that President Shinra demotes him all the way down to staff aide.- -- As Hojo closed the secret basement entrance behind him, he glanced at a security camera monitor he had installed. Thankfully, it wasn't Tseng. It was some other person, and that person appeared to be making small talk with one of the aides. Shinra Mansion was fairly small, but it was staffed beyond its capacity. Entering the mansion, you could quite literally see tens of cubicles arranged in the on the first floor. There were several offices too, one of which belonged to Reno, who was on assignment in Nibelheim. Despite the business of the place, everyone was very quiet. Even the softest of sounds carried all the way to the basement. The only people who didn't care about that fact were the aides, who made sure to talk loud and clear to everyone. Several times Hojo had bungled an experiment because they were too loud. It was for that reason that Hojo was constantly pushing for Shinra Mansion to become Hojo's private laboratory. President Shinra was slowly caving in on that issue, but it could very well take years for Hojo to have his wish granted.  
Hojo descended the stairs from the second to first floor, and as he did so he looked at the visitor. He had long silver hair, and his eyes had a Mako glow to them. Hojo thought he remembered the face. At one time he had held it dearly to him, some once-in-a-lifetime experiment or something to that extent.  
Hojo greeted the visitor with a slight bow. Hojo then led the visitor to his room on the second floor, the room that connected to the basement. Hojo sat down on one of the chairs arranged throughout the room, and the visitor did the same.  
"What do you want? Did Shinra send you here in place of Tseng to check up on me?" Hojo asked coldly. He was eager to get back to his experiment, this was the first time his specimen had looked and acted the part of a living being.  
"Nothing much...father" the visitor then said. Hojo was baffled at the remark.  
"Father?! I don't have any children." Hojo then thought long and hard. It came to him that he had indeed had a son at one point in time, but he was dead. It was a shame too; he was proving to be the perfect specimen. That was it! This person had the same face of the person he had experimented on. How could Hojo have forgotten about his experiments on Sephiroth? He had come so close to creating the perfect soldier, only to have his dreams stolen from him by the rebels. Regardless, Sephiroth was dead. He had plunged into the Lifestream, and no one could survive that. Or, perhaps they could? Hojo could test him quickly to see whether or not this was Sephiroth. Only nine people knew Hojo had ever had a child, and none of them would dare be the source of an information leak.  
"Tell me. What is your name?" Hojo asked nonchalantly, trying to contain his excitement.  
"Sephiroth." Hojo jumped out of his seat and felt like he could dance, albeit no amount of happiness would actually get him to dance. Hojo rushed over to one of his scientific tool kits and brought it over to Sephiroth. Hojo took out the instruments and began to poke and probe Sephiroth, taking measurements. Sephiroth showed signs of discomfort, but Hojo didn't mind that. He poked a needle into Sephiroth and drew a blood sample. It was at this point that Sephiroth grew fed up with Hojo's lack of non-scientific interest in him. He sprang up and shoved Hojo across the room and walked out slowly. He didn't seem as angry as he was sad at having confirmed something. Hojo watched him leave, puzzled with Sephiroth's actions. He didn't think he had done anything to offend him. He shook his head and began to head downstairs to the basement, only to be stopped by the intercom. He looked over to the security camera monitor, and grimaced as he saw Tseng. ---Great.---  
  
Tseng tapped his foot impatiently as he waited for Hojo. The aide who had greeted him at the door was attempting to talk with him, and Tseng found the aide most annoying. He was tempted to just leave, but unfortunately he knew all too well that eventually he had to meet with Hojo, and it was better to get it done with. After he checked up on Hojo, he could go and meet Reno, which Tseng felt was an urgent matter.  
Tseng noticed Hojo walking slowly down the stairs, and, as usual, was disgusted with Hojo's appearance. Some people said that he and Tseng appeared somewhat similar, and Tseng always considered that an insult. Hojo's back was bent forward from years of inactivity and many other poor health decisions. His hair was of similar color and length as Tseng's, but was uncared for and hideously dirty. Then of course, there was how utterly grotesque Hojo's skin was. Tseng was just as busy as Hojo, but he made sure to get out into the sun. Hojo, on the other hand, looked as if he hadn't been outside in years. His skin was pale to the point of appearing translucent.  
Of course, Tseng disliked meeting Hojo for a plethora of other reasons, but still he had to meet with Hojo. He just had to put his personal dislike of the scientist aside for the meetings. He knew that Hojo had no love for him as well, but if he could get over that for their meetings, so could Tseng.  
  
Reno watched the meeting intently through his network of hidden cameras. Perhaps Tseng could weasel out of Hojo what exactly it was that Hojo did with all of those unaccounted hours. He seemed to disappear from Shinra Mansion, and yet the guards around the mansion never saw him leave. Rumor was that when Professor Gast had managed to get President Shinra to build the place, he had a hidden room installed. Unfortunately, nobody had ever found the entrance. Perhaps Hojo had managed to do so.  
Bringing his mind back to the discussion Tseng and Hojo were having, Reno noted that they appeared to be playing a game of chess with their words, baiting the other into giving up information that person didn't want the other to know. As Reno looked at Tseng, he had to stifle his laughter. Three days had passed, but still Reno found the situation hilarious. When he had brought his laughter under control Reno looked back at the monitor and swore. Hojo was walking back to his room and Tseng appeared to be approaching the offices. That meant that he was now going to check up on Reno. Reno fumbled with the dials on his monitor and managed to make it display the latest news from Midgar just as Tseng entered his office. Reno breathed a sigh of relief, but made sure that Tseng couldn't notice that he was doing so.  
Tseng took two steps and walked the length of the office. He found a chair to his liking, and sat down on it. His face carried a composure that masked the frustration he had to be feeling after his meeting with Hojo. Reno decided to see if he could get Tseng to lose that composure. It was a game that he played with Tseng every time they met, and every time Reno managed to win. Reno just had to know exactly what he needed to do to trigger Tseng's anger.  
"So, Tseng. How was your trip to Rocket Town? I hear someone took the town by siege." Reno asked innocently.  
"Yes. That was a misinformed mistake. The person had no ill intentions towards Shinra." Tseng's mask seemed to slip a bit. Reno had confirmed what he had thought. Now it was time to move in for the kill.  
"You know, for some reason, the official records of the hospital in Rocket Town showed that someone had visited the hospital, but a day later, all records of that person ever having been in the hospital magically vanished." Reno pointed out, keeping his town flat and unassuming.  
"That is rather odd. Perhaps we should have someone check in on what happened there. I'm shocked that someone could bribe the hospital staff into erasing their name from the records." Tseng barely managed to keep his control. His mind continually wondered as to whether or not Reno knew. He couldn't know. Tseng had had his name struck from the records. But then again, if an entire day had passed before he had woken up. Maybe Reno did know.  
Reno reveled in how nervous Tseng had become. Tseng's eyes darted nervously from side to side, and his forehead began to perspire. The time for small talk was just about over.  
"You know, I just now got your latest lecture on the methodology of battle on tape. Listening to it proved very instructive. You know, based on what you say, following your guidelines will make someone invincible in battle. Do you really believe that?"  
"Why, of course I do. If I say it I mean it." Reno grinned, he had just backed Tseng into a corner in the conversation.  
"Tseng, you can't still think that. Especially after getting the pants whipped off of you in battle!" Reno took great pleasure in finally revealing to Tseng that he knew. Tseng's eyes widened and his panic became evident.  
"Look, Reno. I don't mind you knowing all of this too much. It just shows that you can never be invincible in battle." Tseng wasn't surprised at all with how easily the lies came to him. "Just don't go spreading this kind of information. You'll undermine Shinra's authority."  
"Too late! Half of Midgar knows by now! I called Rude and told him! He must've been laughing for hours!"  
"What?! You son of a..." Tseng leapt out of his chair and over Reno's desk in an attempt to strangle the Turk. As he did so he noticed how hard Reno was laughing. He had won again. Tseng began to breathe deeply, attempting to ease the anger he felt. He picked himself up off of Reno's desk and sat back down in his chair. His mind began to think of more professional ways to get Reno back for what he had done. Tseng valued his image almost as much as his life. If people began to lose their respect for him like Rude, and then Reno, had done, he would be too embarrassed to set foot outdoors ever again, and would wind up like Hojo, a thought that had absolutely no appeal to Tseng. The idea came to Tseng quickly. The plan he had created would work perfectly, and would rankle in Reno's mind for some time.  
If there was one thing Reno valued above everything else, alcohol and women not included, it was knowledge. If there was one lesson Tseng had given Reno that had actually stuck, it was that with knowledge comes great power. With knowledge you know your opponents weakness, and Reno's complex mind forced him to want to be superior to others. Tseng could make Reno feel inferior to Tseng if he were able to convince Reno that he had key knowledge that Reno didn't. Perhaps then he could also get the brash Turk to fall in line with Tseng. After that it would be easy to get Rude to respect him. Tseng almost began to laugh as he thought of his plan, but checked himself. He would appear insane and somehow lose even more of Reno's respect.  
Tseng smiled slyly and resumed his conversation with Reno.  
  
Sephiroth stood at the center of town, wildly slicing through the air with his sword. His sword moved with such velocity that he could hear it going through the air, and all of his strokes with the sword carried a great deal of power with them, yet Sephiroth's attacks also carried a preciseness and fluidity. The members of SOLDIER watched him, impressed with his skill. To them he was merely brushing up on his technique, but this was something totally different to Sephiroth.  
For Sephiroth, whenever he had his sword in hand he felt a sense of power. Every time he used the sword in battle he came out the victor, and it always felt right when the hilt of the sword was clenched in his palm. It was as though he was destined to use the sword. For him, the only moments of tranquility and serenity came in the chaos and brutality of battle. It was just the way things were. Perhaps Hojo could be accredited with having done one thing right. The sword did really seem to be his friend, offering his solace in his anger and his sadness.  
Thinking about Hojo sparked his anger again. He held no importance to his own father. Hojo had been happy to see him only so that he could study the person who emerged from the Lifestream. Hojo didn't care if he died, and wouldn't have given Sephiroth a second thought had he never resurfaced from the dead. He would have just gone on with his experiments. If Hojo had ever expressed any sadness over Sephiroth's disappearance, or any remorse over how he greeted his long-lost son, it would probably only be because he didn't take full advantage of the opportunity to get that one last blood sample of tissue sample, or perhaps because he ran one of his tests wrong.  
Sephiroth's workout grew even more furious, and more movement became part of his routine. He leapt from side to side, and used all of the open space within Nibelheim to continue his practice. As he did so he noticed a young boy with spiky blond hair admiring him alongside the rest of Sephiroth's spectators. A great many people had gathered to watch Sephiroth in action, perhaps thinking it was a display of how powerful SOLDIER was. Sephiroth didn't know why, but the boy caught his attention. Maybe it was just the odd hairstyle. Regardless, Sephiroth decided to put on quite a show for everyone. His movements became a blur, and he was barely able to notice the applause and cheers he got.  
A noise pierced through the applause. It sounded like the piano being played, and for the most part no one noticed it. But Sephiroth saw that the little boy's attention was no longer on Sephiroth. In fact, the boy was wandering off to the source of it, and as he heard it, Sephiroth began to calm down. His attacks grew less and less violent, and he slowed down before he finally stopped. His spectators gave him one last round of applause before they went off to return to their daily lives. After he had calmed down, Sephiroth noticed how much he had exhausted himself during his frenzied workout. He staggered over to the hotel and went into his room, snatching a bottle of water from the sink in the bathroom of his room. He gulped it down quickly and tossed the bottle into the trash.  
He walked over to the window of his room and opened it, listening to the piano music that filled the air. It managed to relax him, and he plopped down into his bed. He closed his eyes as he listened to the music, and before he knew it he had fallen into a deep sleep. 


	6. Chapter Five

Reno walked into the inn at which Tseng was staying, still agitated from their discussion. Tseng knew something he didn't, and it was obviously something big. Reno had always prided himself on how he was able to gather intelligence. He used blackmail, surveillance, and a multitude of other methods to ensure that he knew everything. It was that knack that had landed him the position of a Turk in the first place. That, and his total lack of morals. To know that something as big as what Tseng knew had slipped through his grasp was a large source of frustration for Reno.  
Nevertheless, Reno had to continue to do his job, even if his latest assignment was not one Reno enjoyed the prospect of. He had worked long and hard to get to Nibelheim. He had wanted to go to figure out what Hojo was up to, and he had come tantalizingly close to doing so. Now, President Shinra had told him to pack his things and worm his way back into Midgar. Doing so would be difficult, to say the least, but when the President gave him an order, Reno followed it.  
Reno checked at the desk and got Tseng's room number before heading up onto the second floor. He looked to the side, watching as the numbers on the doors came closer and closer to the number he was looking for. He finally found it. After some hesitation, Reno knocked on the door. After a long period of time the door swung open to reveal Tseng. Reno noticed that his boss didn't look too happy to see him. Not that Reno could blame him. He had deliberately timed his visit as two o'clock in the morning. It was Reno's way of thanking Tseng for hiding something from him.  
Tseng rubbed his eyes drowsily, and after determining that it was Reno, he began to shut the door. Reno stopped him from doing so, and put his this-is-actually-important look on his face. Tseng swore at Reno, and then proceeded to mutter about how unprofessionally Reno carried himself. He finally invited Reno in, albeit only after making Reno stand in front of the door for five or so minutes. Reno stepped in and made sure to appear vigorous, just to annoy the very tired Tseng. While he was in the process of waking himself up, Tseng pointed to the mini-bar. Reno excitedly headed over and opened the door to the fridge. He picked out his favorite drink and poured it into one of the shot glasses the hotel supplied. He drank it all in one swallow before pouring himself another round.  
Tseng finally decided that he was aware enough to talk with Reno. "What exactly is so important that you can wake me up in the middle of the night?" Tseng complained.  
"Just keeping you alive. You come closest to death at three in the morning. And Tseng, your heart must not be too good. Quite a strain it must be, watching over me."  
"Be serious for once. I have a gun under my pillow and at this time of night, accidents do happen." Tseng replied. Reno was taken aback with Tseng's boldness, and decided to be forthright.  
"President Shinra has ordered me to head back to Midgar. Since you also are going back to Midgar, you are to take me along with you."  
"Was my part in your trip specified in his order?"  
"No, not really. But it's convenient for the both of us."  
"And why is that?"  
"Tseng, I really hate to break this to you, but you've been out of the loop for some time now. President Shinra didn't want to stress you with trivial matters while you were dealing with running SOLDIER. That heart thing, again." Seeing that Tseng was not amused, Reno decided to get on with his explanation. "Anyways, while you've been going about organizing our super soldiers, President Shinra and myself were discussing ways to remedy some of the many problems afflicting Shinra. For example, the fact that most of our power is in the eastern continent, yet that continent is under siege. Every person working for Shinra there is considered useless. Which is why Costa del Sol has been marked for invasion. Shinra wants to temporarily displace his power from the eastern continent to the western continent."  
"What?!" Tseng cried in disbelief. "President Shinra's giving up Midgar?"  
"No, no, not at all. Midgar will be maintained; it's the symbol of Shinra's power. However, for now, Shinra's military might will be based in the western continent. Troops can be deployed with a lot more ease when they don't have to run a blockade."  
"So what does this have to do with you and I getting back to Midgar? Based on what you're saying, we should only go as far as Costa del Sol. Not to mention the fact that I don't see how this relates to you helping me get back to Midgar."  
"We're going to Midgar because that's where President Shinra wants us to. Even I don't know his intentions just yet, but they'll become clear with time. As for how this information pertains directly to our trip to Midgar, we're to go to Costa del Sol and assist Shinra in the invasion. After that we will have a boat with which we can travel to the eastern continent. You need one, unless you plan to swim. We're to arrive in Costa del Sol in two days."  
"Two days! That's not nearly enough time to reach Costa del Sol on foot." Tseng exclaimed. Reno only looked at him, perplexed and amazed.  
"Wow. You really have been out of the loop."  
  
Tseng stared out the window, watching the fields blur by. He was looking to them for peace of mind. Inwardly he kept asking himself how he had not known that armored assault vehicles had been shipped into every town still under Shinra's iron fist. There had been ten in Rocket Town, and it would have been much easier getting to Nibelheim if he had known they were there. He wouldn't have had to wait for the miraculous return of Sephiroth. Instead, he could have just ridden to Nibelheim in style, literally ripping any obstacles in his way into ribbons.  
Tseng looked over at Sephiroth for a brief moment, and noticed that he too was staring out of the window. Tseng wasn't all too sure what was on Sephiroth's mind, but if time had taught him anything, it was that Tseng probably didn't want to know what was on Sephiroth's mind. His state of mind was one that constantly leaned towards insanity. Tseng blamed Hojo for screwing up so royally when it came to raising Sephiroth. He had denied Sephiroth a healthy childhood, too worried that he would lose his only specimen in his twisted experiment. Sephiroth wasn't allowed to interact with anyone who wasn't a top executive in Shinra, and he never had any parental figure. Hojo was more of a doctor than a father to Sephiroth, and Lucrecia...well, that was a whole different issue. Of course, Tseng had known that Hojo wouldn't make a good father, and originally he had planned on making Vincent Sephiroth's father figure. Not only would Sephiroth turn out halfway normal, but also the Turks would be in a better position to use Sephiroth as they pleased. Then Vincent disappeared, and Hojo began spending more hours in his lab. Once again Hojo dropped the ball, and Tseng easily figured out what had happened. After that Tseng had been forced to look for a new Turk to fill Vincent's shoes. It took him the full of eighteen years to find someone fit to do the job, but the teenage Reno was the obvious choice. At the time Reno was still only nineteen, yet he showed remarkable talent in the field of work.  
Tseng began to muse on Reno's first year of work as a Turk. For the first few months he showed great respect for Tseng, but Rude won him over. Tseng suspected it was the lure of alcohol. Rude knew how to allow Reno to access it, and Reno wanted it desperately. The two bonded over their lack of respect for health and the law, and eventually their lack of respect for Tseng. Tseng realized now that it would be impossible to return Reno to his respectful former self, so he decided that his goal would be to pray that Reno minimized his intake of alcohol over the next two weeks, until he finally turned twenty-one. Then if he drank people at least wouldn't be complaining about Shinra's leniency for its top officials when it came to the law. Reno's habits weren't just frustrating for Tseng; they lowered public opinion of Shinra as well.  
The assault vehicle came screeching to a halt and Tseng was thrown forward from his seat. Tseng brought himself up and stared evilly at Reno, who had so gleefully slammed on the brakes. Tseng looked out of the window of the vehicle and noticed that they were near North Corel.  
"Are you insane? This is North Corel. The rebels are here, and in force!" Tseng yelled at Reno. Reno just shook his head.  
"This is one of those things you haven't been told, but then again, it is very hush-hush. The rebels of North Corel are surrendering, dear Tseng." Tseng's eyes widened in surprise, and he let Reno off the hook for using such chiding tones in front of others. Reno obviously took delight in how clueless Tseng was, and decided to continue.  
"You see, while the rebels of Wutai have had alarming success, the rebels of North Corel haven't been doing so well. Their casualties have risen to the point that they have no one else to send in place of their fallen. As such, they're pulling out of the war. The armistice has already been signed, but I want to see the signing of the peace treaty. Supposedly North Corel will be forced into talks with Shinra to replace its source of power, coal, with Mako. The best part is we'll have a nice big reactor near the town. Building one in the mountainous landscape will prove difficult of course, so construction should take about as long as construction for the reactor in Mt. Nibel took, anywhere from ten to twelve years. But imagine, our enemies, who fought so adamantly against the use of Mako, with a reactor standing over the landscape, a constant reminder of their defeat!" Tseng noticed how excitedly Reno talked, and was slightly disturbed by his enthusiasm. He looked over at Sephiroth to see if he was reacting similarly, but he only sat, staring out the window. Tseng doubted that Sephiroth had even heard Reno, but Sephiroth began to speak.  
"The humiliation you envision them being subjected to won't work out as well as you plan. Their desire to rebel against your rule will only grow stronger. They won't fight as they did in this rebellion, but on a more covert scale. And, as you said, a reactor would be incredibly close to them. Conveniently close, perhaps. I understand that those reactors are rather expensive." Reno's grin faded into a thoughtful expression, and he appeared to think about Sephiroth's words. Tseng also wondered over Sephiroth's statement, but not in the way Reno did. Instead of thinking about the actual words, Tseng mused about Sephiroth's personality. Before he had dropped into the Lifestream Sephiroth had been brash and overconfident. Now he seemed so much more passive. He had confidence in his abilities, but only to the point that he needed. His brashness was gone altogether as well. Tseng wondered what exactly Sephiroth had done while he had been missing to cause such a metamorphosis.  
  
Sephiroth watched the treaty signing with disinterest. He didn't understand why everyone was so excited. Had North Corel stayed in the war they wouldn't have been of any use anyways. The only thing that they could have contributed was coal, and that was useless to Wutai, which utilized electricity. Wutai found a number of ways to get that electricity, but refused to use Mako energy. Shinra had tried to impose its will on Wutai and get the town to use Mako, but Wutai refused to do so. Shinra viewed the rejection as a slap in the face, and that was what had sparked the war. Shinra decided that if it couldn't get Wutai to use Mako energy voluntarily, involuntarily would have to do. Then President Shinra decided that he wouldn't stop there, and aimed for world conquest. Sephiroth found it foolish that the war started like that. Millions of lives had been lost for a bit of extra cash in President Shinra's pocket. The rebels were more justified in their fight, but for Sephiroth the war had nothing to do with morals and freedom and conquest. Everything was about revenge. Sephiroth noted that he would have to tread cautiously if he did not want to be consumed by his desire for revenge.  
After the treaty had been signed, everyone went to celebrate the new peace. For the most part everyone seemed overjoyed that the war was finally over. Just about everyone in the room had lost someone because of the war, and as such an air of solemnity infiltrated the joy. Sephiroth glanced over at everyone in the room, and eventually his eyes rested on a man who seemed rather disgruntled. He noticed that Sephiroth was staring at him and gave him a cold look. Sephiroth returned the favor. One of the citizens of North Corel noticed Sephiroth's staring contest with the man and headed over to him.  
"That's Dyne. Don't mind him, he just hasn't fully accepted that we lost. He thinks Shinra's gonna overrun the place and set up one of your expensive little toys." he said casually. Sephiroth smirked; perhaps he could have some fun disillusioning the speaker.  
"Well, this Dyne of yours isn't too far from the truth. I heard talk of setting up a reactor in the Corel Mountains on the way over here." Sephiroth replied. The man who had decided to talk with Sephiroth dismissed the idea.  
"All you soldiers talk about that stuff. By the time you hear it, it's nothing more than manipulated second-hand information. Shinra wouldn't actually set up a reactor here, and that's not just me trusting them. The costs to build a reactor in this region would make the reactor unprofitable." The man sounded so confident in his belief. If ignorance is bliss, Sephiroth was about to take away this man's bliss.  
"I didn't hear it from a soldier. I heard it from him." Sephiroth pointed to Reno, who was hanging out near the punch bowl. Sephiroth noticed the emptied flask in Reno's pocket, and dumped his drink into the trash with distaste. Reno had probably put a "special ingredient" into the punch, and Sephiroth preferred to remain sober. The man, however, was taken aback, and stormed off. Seeing this Sephiroth grinned at Dyne. How perfect it was, that the only person who knew what would happen was widely discredited. The people of North Corel had no idea as to what the future held in store for him. Sephiroth was interested in what would happen after Shinra went ahead and put up a reactor.  
Having had enough of the celebration, Sephiroth left the party and went to the entrance to North Corel. He noticed that Tseng was standing there as well.  
"It's foolish for them to celebrate their defeat, and even more foolish for us to celebrate our victory." Tseng said, having heard Sephiroth approaching. After he had joined Tseng Sephiroth nodded his agreement. Tseng decided to continue. "Why celebrate our victory when we haven't even won? Wutai is the real threat, and yet we act as though we've won the war. North Corel was a minor player, using outdated technology and poorly trained soldiers." Sephiroth nodded again, and came up with a response.  
"We celebrate our victory because we fear we shall never have one again. We celebrate our victory because after a string of defeats we have finally managed to oust one of our foes. Morale is at an all-time low, so this victory is more a symbolic one. Think of it as proof that we can win."  
Tseng thought about that, then nodded in approval. "Well spoken, Sephiroth. You've come a long way from the boy I once knew." Sephiroth smiled slightly at that. Tseng then turned and headed back to the celebration, but before doing so he left some parting words for Sephiroth to think about.  
"Of course, you still have a long way to go." 


	7. Chapter Six

            They spent the night in North Corel, and for the most part everyone slept soundly. Sephiroth chose not to sleep at all. He didn't trust the citizens of North Corel in the least, knowing that Dyne couldn't be the lone disgruntled man. He would be the only person who was suspicious of Shinra's intentions, but there was no way he was not the only disgruntled one. They tried to mask their emotions, and for a brief moment were happy to end their part of the bloodshed, but with time their true feelings would become apparent. Their hatred for Shinra would be eternal, and only their complete obliteration would end that hate. Sephiroth was disgusted by that fact. They allowed their hatred to consume them, and they refused to stop the cycle of hatred. It was a cycle that would never end, for no one was willing to end it. No one wanted to let their grudges go. Sephiroth knew that fact on a personal level. He was disgusted by the fact that he too had entered the cycle, and that he too had been consumed by his hatred. He would not stop harboring his grudge until there was no one for him to begrudge. It was that simple.

            A faint smile came to Sephiroth as he thought about all of this. He realized that he played multiple roles in this cycle. He hated not just the rebels and all that they stood for; he hated Shinra as well, and Hojo above all. Shinra was too foolish to have so much power. Starting wars, beginning a cycle of hate, exploiting power recklessly, and toying with the life of the planet itself, they were all Shinra's actions. President Shinra had no clue when to show restraint, and Sephiroth knew that that would be his final undoing. One day he would overstep his boundaries, and isolated from his protection, he would be swiftly killed. Sephiroth wouldn't mind doing the job himself, but not until the President was vulnerable. The rebels had no right to the planet either, as they were foolish to think that they could stop Shinra. They should have started a war before Shinra had grown so powerful. Popular opinion wouldn't be so in favor of them, but what use is popular opinion when you're dead?

            And yet the majority of Sephiroth's hatred was reserved for Hojo. It was a cold hatred, and wouldn't play as active a role in his life as the complete and total destruction of the rebels, but it was the source of most of his hatred nonetheless. Sephiroth could blame the rebels for trying to take his life, and he could blame them for trying to exploit his life, but he could blame Hojo for ruining his life. He was forever scarred, different from everybody else. The worst part was, ever since regaining his memories, he felt as though something was incomplete. It was as though Hojo had done something else to him.

            Sephiroth slumped against the railing of the balcony at his hotel, when he heard someone talking to him.

            "This hatred everyone knows…it is all so pointless. Everyone claims nobility, to be the side of good, and yet there is no good or evil in this struggle, only shades of gray. There is nothing noble about war, it is only a bloodbath, an excuse to kill and be killed. There is no true victory in war, for how can you claim to be superior to your foes in spirit when you slaughtered them like animals?"

            Sephiroth looked down at the ground to determine who was speaking to him, and found it to be Reeve, the head of urban development in Midgar. Sephiroth had briefly spoken to him in the celebration, and found him to be an idealistic fool. He tried so hard to remove some of the evil within Shinra, and he was unwilling to participate in the vast majority of Shinra's operations. He had said so himself. Tseng had talked about him briefly on the trip to North Corel. Supposedly President Shinra himself disliked Reeve in that Reeve always tried to undo Shinra's crimes, to make things as they were, to make Shinra look merciful. He failed to understand that in war hatred was a necessity, and mercy was a burden. To have mercy on the enemy is to guarantee defeat. War is a no-holds barred tempest, and any attempts to quell it are useless.

            Realizing that Reeve was expecting a reply, Sephiroth came up with his answer.

            "It is my experience that those who still live are the ones who write history, and since the defeated are vanquished, the victors are those who write history. It does not matter that in truth untold cruelties occurred, all that matters is what people think occurred."

            Reeve was taken aback by Sephiroth's suggestion, and when his shock wore off he seemed disappointed somehow.

            "I thought that you might have been different." Reeve began, "Tseng said that you defected from the rebels. I would have believed that having had the chance to see them as people, to have seen their way of life, you would not hate them so."

            "What makes you think I hate them?" Sephiroth said in turn.

            "You obviously don't care that they are being killed by the million. Some would say it is indifference, but you cannot be indifferent to someone once you have had the opportunity to know them. Therefore you must hate them."

            Sephiroth felt somewhat angry with Reeve for analyzing him. Sephiroth's mind was infinitely complex, and for someone to think that they could see through those complexities was insulting.

            Then again, perhaps the true reason he was angry was because Reeve was right. Reeve seemed to be everything Sephiroth strived not to be, and yet he was the one person who perhaps could understand Sephiroth. In Wutai, and even before then, Sephiroth had felt so misunderstood. Everyone believed that they knew what he needed most, and everyone had thought that he needed protection from the world. How could they not realize that above all else he yearned to be released from the prison they had created for him? Above all else, the heart seeks freedom, and Sephiroth hadn't been able to know freedom in Midgar, nor in Wutai. Godo had come close to understanding him, but he treated Sephiroth as though Sephiroth were fragile. Sephiroth had been confined within Wutai. Many of Godo's other students often went out into the wilderness and hunted the monsters as a way of training, but Sephiroth could not do that. Despite Sephiroth's full recovery, Godo had always believed that Sephiroth could relapse at any given moment, and wanted to make sure that someone wanted to make sure that if he did he would be fine.

            Of course, Sephiroth felt more misunderstood than ever after regaining his memories. He remembered his experience in the Lifestream vividly. He still heard the echoes of the voices that flooded his head, seeking to convince Sephiroth that he was not who he thought he was. There was no one that he could relate to about his experience there, because he was the sole person who had found himself. He remembered how difficult it had been, searching for who he was. There were so many others, each saying that they were him, and none of them were any stronger than the others, but Sephiroth clung to life too dearly, and his will was far too powerful to be beaten by anything, even if it meant beating the planet itself. Sephiroth had methodically eliminated the false identities, and after a long search, he knew himself once more. His memories had scattered into unknown corridors of his mind at that point, because in order to remember himself, Sephiroth had been forced to eliminate himself. He had known that in time the memories would gather again, and he would know himself to the full extent once more.

            Sephiroth opened his eyes, not realizing that he had closed them, and released the railing of the balcony from a fierce grip. His knuckles had become white, and Sephiroth watched as they turned red as blood rushed into them before returning to their normal pale color. He looked out into the distant horizon, and saw the sun just beginning to rise. He began to ask himself just how long he had been thinking about the Lifestream when an earsplitting noise went through his head, just like the one in Mt. Nibel. The heartbeat began, and the pain mercilessly shredded through him. He screamed in pain, unable to mask the agony he felt, and then his world went black.

            Tseng paced nervously from side to side in the hotel room, and he kept asking himself one question. How had the Jenova cells in Sephiroth reacted to the main body of Jenova when the horrid beast was so far away? Sephiroth must have done something to provoke them, to allow them to create such a reaction. Hojo had released theories that certain thoughts and certain actions could cause such a thing. However, they were supposed to just be theories, and Tseng had always hoped that they were nothing more. When Hojo had released his theories, he had emphasized on how trauma would be the most likely source of such a reaction, and Tseng couldn't help but guess what had traumatized Sephiroth, and what he could have done to bring such trauma to the forefront of his mind.

            As Tseng plunged deeper into thought, the impatient tapping of a shoe brought him out of it. He looked to his left and noticed Reno, who was none too happy to have to wait for Sephiroth to wake up. Tseng felt somewhat urgent as well, the window of opportunity Reno had given him was closing quickly, and if Sephiroth took too long Tseng could quite possibly be stuck in the western continent for the rest of his natural life. The war showed no signs of letting up, and Tseng suspected that being stuck with Reno would cause enough stress to lay him low in five or six years. His only hope would be that Reno might share a similar fate.

            Sephiroth then shot up from his sleep, quite obviously petrified. Tseng was rather surprised that Sephiroth had shown so much fear. Sephiroth was a very calm person, and one who held little fear, whatever it was that had been able to cause such fear would be something Tseng should consider to keep an eye on.

            For the moment, however, Tseng rushed to get Sephiroth up and moving, and for once Reno helped him as opposed to play mind games with him. They shared a mutual desire to get back to Midgar, for quite a bit was happening there. Supposedly one of the reactors had almost been destroyed by riots, and a number of assassinations had happened. President Shinra himself had almost been victim to an assassination. This was a scene that Tseng usually wouldn't want to enter, but the path to more power was within Midgar. He could cull the strongest from the protesters and the rebels, and he could have them turn on their former allies, ending the threat. Tseng would be credited with restoring order in Midgar, and the president would be indebted towards him. Better yet, perhaps his colleagues would respect him, and the Turks could become a more smoothly functioning unit.

            Tseng looked back on the better days of the organization, when Vincent was still in the ranks. Vincent respected Tseng, and Rude respected Vincent, so Rude actually fell in line with Tseng. Tseng had received a number of citations for his work back then, now all he got was threats and two underlings that acted as though they were his superiors.

            As their assault vehicle departed from North Corel, Tseng began to wonder if going back to Midgar really was what he wanted to do. On second thought, restoring order would do no good, for Midgar would be of no use if President Shinra really was planning on temporarily shifting his power into the western continent. Perhaps something that would be more beneficial to Shinra, something that would pave the way to victory. He slowly turned his head towards Sephiroth, and he saw the means for doing such a thing. He smiled slyly and began concocting ways to convince Sephiroth to join him in his plans. Tseng would have to go about such persuasion cautiously, as he didn't want to make Sephiroth feel used, that was suicide, but he had to get Sephiroth in on his plan. He had time to think of a way though, it wasn't as though either side of the war was running out of people to send to their deaths.

            Sephiroth passed the trip in silence. He had had the dream again, and he couldn't help but wonder what it meant. It was such a twisted dream, and Sephiroth couldn't help but fear it. In the dream he was a different person. It was true that he was a very apathetic person in the present, and he could kill without remorse, but his dream form was ruthless, merciless, and far worse than he was. Sephiroth didn't kill without necessity or reason, and yet in his dream he slaughtered the people without either.

            The worst thing was, he enjoyed it. That wasn't the influence of the dream. Sephiroth genuinely enjoyed their killing. He took a sadistic glee in their cries of agony, a perverse pleasure in their pain. He had been transforming rapidly ever since he had regained his memories. The hatred and anger that was consuming him was the catalyst, the source of his change. Sephiroth allowed that hatred, that anger, to consume him, for it gave him unimaginable power. He remembered the "battle" at Mt. Nibel. He couldn't consider it an actual battle based on how one-sided it had been. He knew that only his intense hatred of the rebels had allowed him to survive and emerge victorious, and he was unwilling to relinquish that kind of power to "save" himself from his hatred. Most everyone became mere puppets to their hatred when they had been as consumed by it as Sephiroth, but Sephiroth knew that he could control it. If it gave him such power, and if he could control the power he was given, why stop the metamorphosis he was undergoing? When it ended he would be the most powerful person ever, second to none. Then he would be the rightful heir to the planet, and he could take it from Shinra and the rebels, as they were inferior.

            Sephiroth looked at everyone within the assault vehicle, determining who would be worthy to be part of his empire, and decided that only Reno would do. Tseng had power, but he was little more than a tool that Sephiroth could use to gain power. The members of SOLDIER would perhaps form his army, but nothing other than that. Reno, on the other hand, would fit in perfectly. He had the brains and the brawn Sephiroth would require, and his lack of respect for anyone within Shinra would help Sephiroth get Reno to defect.

            Sephiroth then realized that he was falling victim to arrogance. How many times had Godo talked to him about it? Perhaps later, when he actually had true power, he could afford to be so arrogant, yet as it was he needed to keep that arrogance in check. Otherwise he would grow complacent and wait for the winds of change to blow, when in all reality he needed to make the winds of change blow. How else would he be able to benefit from such change?

            Costa del Sol then came in sight, and Sephiroth prepared to get out, but was surprised when Reno drove the vehicle straight into Costa del Sol without stopping.

            "What are you doing?" Sephiroth asked Reno. "Why aren't you stopping so that we can get out?"

            Reno smirked slightly and laughed lightly at Sephiroth.

            "Look, this is an assault vehicle. We can mow down the rebels safely behind a foot of solid steel. Let's see their swords cut through that!" Sephiroth was silent for a minute before he spoke up again.

            "Let me out."

            "What? Are you crazy? The rebels are swarming the place! It'll only be a matter of seconds before you're killed, and rather painfully, I might add."

            "I said, let me out."

            One of the soldiers decided to pitch in.

            "Trust me, you don't wanna see this guy when you piss him off. He kills stuff." was what the soldier said, somewhat jokingly. Sephiroth glared at him and the lopsided grin he had been wearing became a straight face again. Reno showed no signs of stopping though, and Sephiroth was not patient enough to wait for Reno to come around. He shoved the Turk away from the controls and had the door open. Sephiroth leapt out of the still-moving vehicle, leaving Reno in shock.

            "Glory hound." Reno muttered to himself.

            Light flooded into Sephiroth's eyes, temporarily blinding him. When he regained his sight a scene of total chaos was revealed to him. From the assault vehicle he hadn't been able to see or hear what was going on, but now that he knew what was happening, he wasn't sure that he wanted to know what was going on. He could hear gunfire coming from all directions, and he quickly had to search for cover. After he had found a large chunk of debris to protect him, he examined the town. Many of the buildings were riddled with bullet holes, and some had been shelled to the point of utter obliteration. Bodies of both the rebels and Shinra littered the streets, and the yellow bricks had been stained red.

            As Sephiroth sat he observed several rebels creep into a building, obviously looking to find a good sniper position. Sephiroth stood up and prepared to deny them that spot. He wanted to make his entrance dramatic, and he spotted a window near the door to the building. He dashed across the street and flipped into the window feet first. The glass shattered and sprayed everywhere, and Sephiroth heard several profanities yelled, obviously a few of the rebels had been hit by the glass. Sephiroth tracked down the source of the sound, as inside the building it was quite dark, and ran to it. He sliced through the air with his sword, and when he felt the resistance of flesh gained a sense of satisfaction. The brief cry of pain that was made as a result before the rebel died was truly enjoyable. By then Sephiroth's eyes had adjusted to the darkness somewhat, and he noticed the faint silhouette moving within the darkness. He made two quick strides and brought his sword through a powerful arc, instantly killing the rebel. He was then quickly able to track down the other rebels in the building and he killed them quickly.

            His job in the building done, Sephiroth pulled out his Contain materia and quickly cast a Flare spell. An explosion went off and the building's walls exploded outward. Sephiroth then ran out from under the collapsing building in an incredible show of speed. One of the rebels in the streets noticed him and prepared to attack him, but Sephiroth used his momentum to pull off an attack that left the rebel dead in the street, his blood mingling with the rest of the blood that covered the streets.

            Sephiroth stopped for a moment to determine where he was headed next when he heard a rebel trying to sneak up on him. Trying but failing. Sephiroth ducked under the slash aimed at his head and came back up, his blade running through the man and halving him vertically. Sephiroth then looked at a group of rebels attempting to surround him, but they appeared to be wary of Sephiroth and looked as though they weren't going to attack. Sephiroth plucked his Enemy Skill materia from his sword and cast Matra Magic. The hundreds of energy missiles scattered and found their targets, and they overtook the rebels. Sephiroth glanced quickly at the bodies to make sure that everyone was truly dead before he headed off.

            With Sephiroth's help it only took a short time for Costa del Sol to fall back into the hands of Shinra. Every last rebel that had been located within the town was lying dead. Sephiroth took a great deal of pride in his handiwork, and knew that he had accomplished two things. Not only had he gotten the chance to release some of his fury upon the rebels, but also this display would most certainly aid him in his quest for power. Many of the military masterminds who had led the strike had expressed just how impressed they were with Sephiroth, and when President Shinra came they would be sure to tell him of the soldier who annihilated the rebels with ease.

            Despite his unhappiness with Sephiroth's earlier actions, Reno was impressed by Sephiroth as well, and he wondered how Tseng had found him. If Tseng was accredited with being the one to find Sephiroth, then he would be elevated yet further in President Shinra's eyes. Reno was well known and well respected amongst all of the Shinra hierarchy, except for the President himself. President Shinra had never liked Reno, or his methods, or his habits. Ironically, only Tseng's respect for his abilities kept President Shinra from having Reno demoted to some trivial job that he would undoubtedly hate.

            But the prevalent thought in Reno's mind was how Sephiroth had done what he had done. No human was that fast, that strong, or had that kind of technique. Tseng had declared him a member of SOLDIER, but Sephiroth hadn't yet undergone treatment. That meant that Sephiroth quite simply shouldn't have been the super soldier he proved to be. He should still have been confined to the normal human limits, yet not even the best members of SOLDIER showed that kind of skill and prowess in battle.

            Reno wasn't sure if he was absolutely right, but he thought some things were clicking in his mind. Tseng had hinted at something earlier, something that was his way of telling Reno he knew something that Reno didn't. Could that bit of information have anything to do with Sephiroth? He was determined to find out, and began to create ways to do so in his mind.

            It didn't take long for inspiration to come, and Reno darted off to find a way to make his plan work.


	8. One Screwup at a Time

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VII. The end.

"Sir, we're entering into our final approach of Costa del Sol and will be landing shortly." President Shinra looked over to the helicopter pilot, who had informed him of the current situation and shot him a scornful glare.  
"Pay attention to what you're doing! I can see full well that we're approaching Costa del Sol!" the President yelled at the top of his lungs, for anything quieter would have been drowned out in the roar of the helicopter. Also, he was quite unhappy with Shinra's state of affairs. How had things gone so badly? The vast resources of Midgar had been at his disposal, the planet itself working to energize his forces, and yet somehow he was _losing._ It seemed impossible, especially with the super-human forces of SOLDIER acting in his name.  
For President Shinra, it all began with Hojo. Millions, even billions, of dollars had been put into the Sephiroth project. Shinra had been forced to pay for the syringes, the Jenova extraction equipment, the anti-toxins, the countless hospital visits, the research, everything imaginable, and what he gotten in return? Nothing! All the money that could have been spent on weaponry, armor, and more soldiers was spent on one person who died before he could even prove himself. And when the news came that his project was a complete failure, that all that money had been wasted, Hojo didn't even bat an eye. He merely requested yet more money to continue his research in other fields.  
Of course, there were numerous other problems plaguing Shinra Inc., but they were all problems that the President had no control over. Control, that was what bothered him the most. For him, control was a very important thing. If you were not in control, if you were subject to the winds of fate and change as opposed to your own will, where were you headed? You couldn't know, because you couldn't control it. That he lacked control over the elements of his life that constantly conspired against him was the real problem. If he could just control those things, then all the pieces would so quickly fall into place.  
The President then looked to his right, where a young red-haired boy looked down contemptuously at the soldiers milling about in Costa del Sol. Shinra smiled slightly, Rufus would be the perfect heir to Shinra's throne. Cold, calculating, callous, those were three attributes Rufus had, and they were attributes he could use to dominate the world. But, he would only be able to hold a legacy intact, not create one. That was why Shinra knew that he needed to conquer the lands before Rufus came to power. If Rufus came to power he would let Shinra stagnate. In a stagnant state Shinra would be standing still, and in standing still Shinra would be rotting, weakening itself for those who would oppose it.  
Shinra waited calmly as the helicopter slowed before stopping altogether, hovering in the sky. The helicopter slowly lowered before landing with a thud, and the roar of its whirling subsided before becoming non-existent. Shinra stood up and motioned for Rufus to do the same, and the two stepped out from the helicopter, greeted by a multitude of military officers informing him of the Costa del Sol invasion. Shinra quickly silenced them and looked around. Something was…different. Shinra finally saw it. A man with silvery hair, standing aloof from everyone else. Shinra stared long and hard at the man, and he called for him to come forward. The man stood still, refusing to move. Shinra's eyes narrowed, and he ordered one of the officers to bring him forward. The officer instantly complied, but the man did not. He simply refused to move. The officer persisted in his requests, and eventually resorted to threats.  
The President watched as a quick flash of light streaked through the air. At first nothing happened, but then the officer staggered back before falling to the ground, desperately trying to keep a wound in his stomach closed. His hands were stained red, and a garnet liquid began to surface through the gaps between his fingers. He cried for help, for a medic, but everyone was unmoving. Shinra nodded to himself. Ambition was rewarded within Shinra. If you killed your superior, the superior was allowed to die for being incompetent and unable to inspire respect. He looked over to Rufus, and noted with satisfaction the apathy of his son. He would have to be able to handle death as it was meant to be handled. Death was merely the solace for the weak. Life was for the strong and the strong alone.  
None of this, however, changed the President's infuriation with the man's refusal to acknowledge him. Fed up with the man he walked over to him and demanded his attention. The man lifted his head up to look Shinra in the eye, and Shinra was disconcerted by what he saw. Mako green eyes…no, they weren't even that. They glowed with a ferocity and intensity unlike anything Shinra had seen before. By just looking him in the eye Shinra could see that the man had been exposed to quite a bit of Mako over his lifetime, and by far more Mako than Shinra would ever have allowed.  
"So," the man broke his silence, and his voice was hypnotic, "you're President Shinra. What a… disappointment." The man then turned and walked away, not giving Shinra a second look. His anger having gone past his tolerance level Shinra brought out one of his pistols and fired at the man. He managed to hit him in the shoulder, but the man continued to walk on, even as his blood collected and fell to the ground. Shinra shifted his aim a bit, but found that he could not fire off a more lethal shot. To do such would be to disrespect such an admirable threshold for pain. Instead he simply walked over to where his villa was. As soon as he got there two men were waiting for him. The first was the esteemed leader of the Turks, Tseng. The other was the ingenious Heidegger.  
The two walked up and bowed, reciting some oath to Shinra, both the company and president. Shinra didn't see why they bothered; the reason why they were high-ranking was due to exceptional skills in such fields as disloyalty, dishonesty, along with a bit of treachery, and maybe just a dash of corruption. Eh, who did the president think he was kidding? They were all corrupt to the bone.  
"Enough with the pleasantries." Shinra stated with a rather agitated tone. "I'd rather make this quick. Is there even a reason to be here? Anything in particular I should know about?" Patience was a virtue, and Shinra knew that full well. Then again, he hadn't gotten so powerful by being full of virtue. Seeing that the president was rather impatient, Tseng quickly spoke up.  
"We've found him." Tseng stated in a matter-of-fact tone. He seemed to presume that the person he had found was so important he didn't even need to be named.  
"Who is he?" Shinra asked, and noted with some surprise that even Heidegger didn't know who this person was. So Tseng was obviously keeping the situation under wraps, even from his peers. This person must have been extremely classified, as Tseng was nervously glancing around the room, looking for people and checking to see if the room was bugged. Obviously not satisfied enough with his check but knowing how impatient the president could be, Tseng simply restated his sentence.  
"We've found _him_." Shinra, still confused at this point, gave Tseng the sort of look that had inspired people with much greater wills to say anything and everything they knew. "As you know, quite a few years ago we started a rather… expensive project. Some of the most renowned scientists in the world were working on it. The project ended in failure."  
"And which project is that? I've funded a lot of projects for scientists that proved to be failures."  
"The project had no name." Tseng made the words sound ominous somehow, and he should have. _Every_ Shinra project had a name. "The project," Tseng continued, "was regarded as non-existent. At the time, the scientist heading it was considered missing, which he basically was. The funds that fueled the project were derived from a transfer of accounts. Twenty-two different accounts deposited money into this scientist's 'funeral funding' and 'rescue effort'. Each account was from a different offshore bank that Shinra Inc. supplied with money through numerous different phantom transfers that did not exist as far as most everyone was concerned. As far as the public knew, private donations kept the accounts going."  
"You seem to be overly fascinated by the money trail Tseng. I know this sort of deception is right up your alley, but get to the point." Shinra was definitely not patient today.  
"This transfer process is very important. It was how we allocated over 12 billion gil into the most daring and expensive project in Shinra's history, yet it is not in Shinra's history. What project would require not only such vast sums of money, but also for no one to know that this money was being used?" Tseng made it sound as though by now Shinra should know it for sure, yet he saw from the blank stare in Shinra's eyes that he clearly didn't, nor did Heidegger. "Surely, sir, you must know the one unofficial project is Shinra's history. It involved none other than Hojo." This was when everything came together for Shinra.  
"You can't be saying we've found _him_." Shinra couldn't help but be amused by the fact that now he was using 'him'. Yet he realized why Tseng had been doing so. There was no way anyone outside of the absolute highest-ranking officials within Shinra would know about this project. Heidegger, also having realized who this person was, seemed to think even saying 'him' was somewhat dangerous.  
"We found him. He's in perfect condition. A completely undamaged specimen. He seems to be more powerful than when we lost him. Far more powerful." Shinra actually smiled at this. This was indeed important news. Even better, it was important news that he actually liked hearing!

Sephiroth sat unflinching as a knife dug into his shoulder. Tolerance for pain was important in a warrior. Besides, to move would be to risk further injuring himself. He simply had to sit patiently, willing himself through the intense pain as Reno probed further and further with the knife. As to why he had someone carving a nice hole in his shoulder in the first place, Sephiroth needed the bullet that had lodged itself in his shoulder out before the wound began to heal and incorporate the leaden projectile into his body. Rather amazingly, Shinra had managed to shoot the same shoulder that had taken an arrow not too long ago, almost in the exact same place. A most unhappy coincidence, yet such was life.  
After another few minutes, the metal blade carefully exited his shoulder, and Reno dropped the bloodstained bullet at Sephiroth's feet.  
"Consider it a souvenir. It's not every day that someone lives after getting the prez mad. You're gonna need all the good luck you can get."  
"And why would that be?" Sephiroth inquired. Luck was only a factor when a person had failed to be perfect.  
"Well," Reno began, obviously rather pleased with himself, "the president, our most gloried Shinra…" the name was spoken with just a little venom, "likes to reward those who discover the next big thing." Reno put every bit of drama into the last two words. "Now Sephiroth, my boy, you could very well be the next big thing." Sephiroth wondered why Reno was calling him 'my boy' when he was clearly older than Reno. "So… I've decided to enlist you. Now, I know you may be thinking something along the lines of 'Tseng already made me a part of SOLDIER', but that's not being enlisted. That's being given a name and told to waltz off to Midgar, where most soldiers spend more time…" Sephiroth simply filtered out the ensuing obscenity, "than actually battling. I'm guessing you don't want to do that.  
"So, to save you from such a horrible plight. I've demoted you! You're now an average Joe. And you know what that means? Off to war you go! And let me tell you, when I say war, I mean war. Not some pathetic battle with one or two battalions. I'm talking about epic battles between hundreds of thousands of soldiers. More than enough people for you to kill. Hell, you can go ahead and kill a few of your own allies if you really wanted, it would just be passed off as confusion in the heat of battle."  
"I hardly see how this is considered doing me a favor."  
"What are you talking about? It's a huge favor!" Reno said the words with a passion that was undoubtedly insincere. "You like to fight, you get to fight!"  
"To get you a higher ranking in Shinra…"  
"Well yes, I might benefit from your success. But I would probably only get one or two congratulatory pats one the back. Nothing more. Now then, you see that green bag over there? Yes? Within it is all the stuff you could need. A uniform, albeit the military dress code isn't so strict these days, along with a standard rifle, sword, and yes, even a complimentary materia of excellent quality!"  
Sephiroth quickly rummaged through the bag and found the materia orb. It was some of the worst materia he had seen. The surface was rather dull, meaning it was probably made from the excess Mako that wasn't even of a high enough grade to power the slums. There were numerous cracks along its surface, some obviously from being hit with a sword or a hammer too hard in battle, others just there due to the shoddy workmanship. There was even still fresh blood on the materia. Incidentally, right next to Sephiroth was the corpse of a soldier, whose sword's sole materia slot was suspiciously empty.  
"So we might have had to cut a few corners on the complimentary materia." Reno said when he realized Sephiroth knew the materia could hardly be considered good. It didn't matter though. Sephiroth was off to war anyway. He really didn't have a choice.  
"You can keep the materia. Just tell me where the biggest battle is." Sephiroth had to admit that while he disliked being told to do anything, he did want to fight. He couldn't get his revenge guarding a city that wouldn't be attacked. Reno adopted the widest grin Sephiroth had ever seen and began to inform Sephiroth of all the closest hotspots for action.

Reno walked into Shinra's villa extremely pleased with himself. When Sephiroth prevailed in battle, he would get all the credit. And if Sephiroth so happened to die in battle, no matter. He would be just one more potential great that proved to be lackluster.  
As soon as Reno neared Shinra he noticed that he was talking to Tseng and Heidegger in extremely muted tones, just above a whisper. As soon as they heard Reno coming they immediately stopped, all three looking at him angrily.  
"This better be important." Shinra said with contempt. He was always angry at Reno though, so Reno didn't really mind.  
"That all depends on how things go in the future. Just in case everything goes well, I'd like to inform you of something huge. I've recruited someone who has the potential to be the greatest general in Shinra's history."  
"And just who is that?" Tseng asked, more than a little annoyed with the inconvenience of Reno.  
"You know him Tseng. You tried to put him in SOLDIER, but that's not where he belongs. He'll thrive in the chaos of battle."  
"Who is it?!" Tseng cried, wanting Reno out as soon as possible.  
"His name is Sephiroth. Though soon enough he'll be General Sephiroth!" Tseng said each word with an air of satisfaction, waiting for the approval he deserved. The reactions he got were decidedly worse than that. Heidegger wasn't even standing. He was actually sweating rather profusely, staring very uneasily at the president. Tseng's face had gone completely pale, and he too was sweating. He mouthed something that definitely looked like profanity to Reno. And the president was nothing short of furious. His face was red, and beginning to reach purple, and his face was contorted in an almost comical manner. He appeared too mad to even speak, so Tseng said the words for him.  
"You… IDIOT!"

Author's note- Wow, it's been a long time since I updated. But I did it! And I've now got titles for my chapters too! Anyway, please just go ahead and review. And I swear, by next chapter I'll go back to Sephiroth proving to be a demi-god on the field of battle. This chapter was one of those that actually lacked any battles.


	9. The Eve of Battle

**Disclaimer**: Yeah, yeah… I don't own FFVII, blah, blah, blah…

Godo quietly sipped at his cup of tea while hearing the latest report. Some territory had been taken, some of it had been lost, basically the normal report. Wutai and Shinra seemed evenly matched. Godo knew on the inside though, that the only reason Wutai had been having such success was the inefficiency and disorganization of Shinra. Wutai's warriors were all powerful, true, but Shinra's army was too large for the more elite soldiers of Wutai to handle. It had taken a miracle for Wutai to last this long, especially after _he_ had reduced the town to ashes.  
Godo sighed slightly at the thought. Sephiroth had been such a promising student. Godo had known it was too good to be true. No one as old as Sephiroth had been could have been the blank slate Godo had been looking for, much less an innocent. It truly was a shame. Sephiroth was the one person Godo had known who might have bested him in combat with enough training…  
"And General Benkei? He is doing well, I hope." Godo interrupted the man reporting to him, but only because he knew how the rest would go. He needed to get to the important things.  
"Ah, yes sir. He's doing quite well. Lost only ten men in three battles. Minor skirmishes, really, but impressive nonetheless. We should pray his luck holds up. He's heading right towards a major formation of Shinra troops. No less than forty thousand soldiers are expected."  
"How many green-eyed?" To most asking how many soldiers had green eyes would seem like a ridiculous question, and one that couldn't be answered. Yet Godo wasn't talking about the natural green eyes. They were the green eyes resulting in Lifestream exposure. Shinra's practice of purposefully endangering some of its soldiers by injecting them with Mako was sickening to Godo. To imagine the agony that such a process would cause. It would almost be akin to Sephiroth's plunge into the Lifestream. He had such vibrant green eyes. They seemed to glow, somehow they even seemed to glow more than a trip through the Lifestream could cause. It was like something else fueled that fire in Sephiroth's eyes, something so unnatural…  
"No reports of any green-eyed sir." Godo's once more brought his full focus to the report. "But some of the advance scouts have seen a lone one heading in the direction of the soldiers."  
"One of them won't make a difference" Godo dismissed this one person rather quickly. It was unimportant. Even Shinra's best soldier wouldn't make too much of an impact in battle. Unless…  
"Did this man… have silver hair?" Godo inquired, filled with worry. Would Sephiroth be heading towards that battle? If he were, which side would he join? Sephiroth had never liked Shinra, but hatred could lead one to do rather terrible things. And Sephiroth had been completely consumed by his hate. That was why he had burned down Wutai, that was why he had left such a bloody path for his escape, and that was why…  
"That's sort of surprising. He actually did have silver hair. Very long silver hair. How did you know that?" Godo didn't even answer. He simply got up and walked over to his wall. He reached up and pulled a single sword from the wall, unsheathing it. By modern standards it was useless. It didn't have any materia slots or anything. Even the weakest soldiers had a bare minimum of one materia slot, usually for a performance-increasing materia, such as a speed booster. Yet Godo hardly needed a place in his sword for materia. He only had one materia after all.  
"Sir? What are you doing?" Godo stood for a little while, pondering his move. He blinked once, and then turned to face the person reporting to him, filled with resolution.  
"Have transportation prepared. I'm going off to battle." Godo then passed the rather-shocked man and walked out of the pagoda. He took one deep breath and then started off. Sephiroth had been consumed by his hatred.  
That was why Godo needed to stop him.

Sephiroth continued on his journey to his next battlefield. Reno had pointed it out as a place where large amounts of troops had been gathering. If Sephiroth were quick enough, he'd be able to take place in one of the larger battles of the war. Going on foot naturally wouldn't do, so Reno had lent Sephiroth his own personal chocobo. Of course, Sephiroth was pretty sure that the chocobo was simply one Reno had commandeered from one of the soldiers for Sephiroth. That would have bothered some people. The thing was, Sephiroth didn't really care. His bloodlust was increasing, and he almost felt a need to do battle once more.  
Incidentally, Sephiroth had found some people who would sate the desire for now.  
"You might as well show yourselves." Sephiroth said each word calmly and in no particular direction. He seemed to be alone, but he knew… "You've been following me for at least four days now, but it's been a very sloppy effort. Twice now you've stepped on a twig. Three times you've allowed your whispers to be in the range of my hearing. And once now…"  
Sephiroth became a blur to the human eye as he leapt off his chocobo. Using the momentum he sprang forward, unsheathing the sword Reno had given him. It really wasn't that bad a sword. Sephiroth used all his strength to run the sword completely through the tree. When he pulled it out it was stained red with blood.  
"Once now you've allowed a member of your team into my field of vision." Sephiroth heard the man he had stabbed fall to the ground dead. The sound was loud, and long, enough for the others to move from their hiding positions and into attack positions. There had been five of them, Sephiroth was sure. Based on the stealth abilities they had shown, they were probably from Wutai. Due to the fact that soldiers from Wutai were away from, but not too far away from, a soon-to-be-battle indicated they were advance scouts. Now there were four of them, and their level of skill indicated they would soon be dead.  
The one who was undoubtedly their leader jumped out of a bush behind Sephiroth with the intent to catch him unaware. No such luck. Sephiroth had pivoted and raised his blade by the apex in his assailant's jump. One quick slash and the scouts' number were down to three. Sephiroth quickly changed the headcount again when he used a fire materia to incinerate a hiding scout not far away. Another fire attack and the number was down to one. All that was left to do was dispatch of the remaining scout, who was cowering in the tree above him. Sephiroth used one mighty jump to impale the man, and the number was down to zero.  
Sephiroth, noting that all his foes were dispatched, did a quick check on his heartbeat. It was not elevated at all. He hadn't even gotten the thrill of battle. It had just been too easy. Sephiroth shook his head and remounted his chocobo before continuing his trip.

Reno continued onward in his journey towards enlightenment. Some people thought alcohol ruined the mind, but Reno knew differently. It was all so clear to him when Reno was drunk.  
"Everyone tries to figure out why there are so many problems with the world…" the Turk began with a noticeable slur in his speech, "but really, the problem is that people are idiots!" Reno exclaimed his discovery like it was huge, but the other bar patrons simply ignored him. That didn't exactly discourage him from continuing with his rant.  
"I mean… really. Shinra goes off to war because we were too stupid to crush Wutai when they were still some backwater… some backwater…" Reno searched for the word in his mind but couldn't figure it out. "Ah, screw it. The point is, everyone's pissed at me now 'cause I'm a friggin' idiot! I send off some high-maintenance soldier, and everyone just yells at me. I had to listen to Heidegger lecture me… for THREE FRICKIN' HOURS! That guy is not easy on the eyes or ears. And he's so _boring_! And by god, you'd think that anyone going to Costa del Sol would get a nice tan. Instead he simply tries to find a way to get his lips closer to Shinra's fat… Shinra's fat… ah, dammit, forgot the word again. I'm really making an ass of myself today…"  
Reno glanced around the dimly lit bar a bit, and then remembered he didn't care about the environment. "Hey barkeep! Another bourbon, this time on the house maybe? I don't think a buy five, get one free special is that bad an idea…" Reno tailed off by the end, realizing fully that he was indeed completely wasted. Tseng would probably yell at him. "What else is new?" Reno muttered to himself. He leaned his head on the counter, closely inspecting the empty glass, waiting for it to be filled. When the brown liquor poured into the glass Reno excitedly whipped his head up to down another shot. When he was done he had found the courage to continue in his speech.  
"I mean, even Tseng is out there getting a tan. Hell, if Hojo came here, he would probably get a tan. And that guy definitely needs one… but no, he decides to kiss Shinra's butt. Hey, even Shinra's butt is getting more tan. Tch, the problem with the world is people like him."  
"You mean idiots?" One of the patrons asked him.  
"NO! What the hell gave you that idea, you moron! The world needs idiots like you! Who else would… ah man. Lost my train of thought again. No, the problem with the world is not idiots, you loonie. The problem is people like… you know what. Forget it. I keep wasting my time, trying to remember stuff for you people."  
"Hey, dumbass! No one cares about your ideas!"  
"Yeah… you're probably right, I _should_ stop drinking for today…" As always, things were crystal clear for Reno. Perhaps this was because he couldn't manage any coherent thought. Realizing Reno was a bit over-intoxicated the bartender took away Reno's shot glass, prompting an angry glare from his customer.  
"What the-? Gimme back my shot glass, with the strongest stuff in the house!"  
"But you just said you wanted to stop drinking." The bartender was rather confused by this point, perhaps because he was dealing with a rather confused drunk.  
"What the hell gave you that idea?"

Tseng was not amused. There had been yet another incident involving Reno, and, surprisingly, his most recent misdemeanor took place in a bar. More surprisingly, Reno was too drunk to understand that he had indeed done something wrong. Tseng believed Reno's exact words were "since when was it a crime to…" Reno did of course hiccup a few times, "a crime to puke in someone's face? He was being so rude." The "rude" person Reno was referring to had unfortunately been the police officer sent to escort Reno, who was by far above the legal blood alcohol limit, back to his hotel.  
The worst part was, that wasn't what they were holding Reno for. A Turk could do something like that with complete impunity. But to shoot someone twice in the hand 'for the heck of it' was serious enough for Reno to be held in police custody until Tseng picked him up, not because Reno had committed a crime of course, but because Reno's freedom put public safety at risk. Once again, Reno wouldn't be jailed just because he was a Turk, and no organization had ever dared to do anything bad to a Turk. It was begging to be falsely accused of treason. One day you'd be proud of yourself for standing up to the big guys, the next over a dozen "witnesses" would attest to your crazy plot to assassinate the president. No judge ever questioned the guiltiness of someone the Turks brought to trial. The last one had been assassinated. That was a price Tseng had been willing to pay though, as he had already stopped 10,368 assassination attempts on the president in the year. To be a Turk…  
Still, Tseng noted with extreme dissatisfaction that people now were able to speak ill of the Turks. Not due to the abuse of power. Instead, it was all because of Reno. Tseng actually questioned whether or not Reno really deserved to be a Turk. His latest failure was perhaps proof that he wasn't cut out for the job just yet.  
In his defense, Reno had said there was no way he could have known about the Sephiroth project. It was before his time, irrelevant. He had then insinuated that Tseng had failed by not telling him about this project. In defense of himself, Tseng pointed out that the main job of a Turk was to know everything, regardless of whether it mattered or not, and especially regardless of whether or not other people wanted you to know about it or not. As an example, Rude had taken all of three days since becoming a Turk to milk all his sources and find out about the project. Of course, Tseng's example was a complete lie, but using those sorts of lies was also how one became a Turk.  
Tseng looked down upon Reno, who was sleeping rather noisily on the ground. Tseng was tempted to roll him so that his back was to the ground, maybe see if he choked on his bile. Utilizing such convenient opportunities to kill obstacles was yet another way one became a Turk. Tseng raised his foot and began to roll Reno over when he noticed the supposedly sleeping Turk was aiming a gun at his head.  
"Don't even think about it."  
Tseng then remembered that Reno truly was a Turk.

Sephiroth had come within sight of the Shinra troops. They were encamped on the side of a hill, undoubtedly trying to have some sort of obstruction between themselves and their enemies' sight. The hill was fairly close to a canyon, perhaps they were also thinking of a method of escape. Should they be overcome, it might help to have a fairly narrow passage, preventing their enemies from pursuing them in high numbers. Extremely basic and by the book tactics, meaning whoever was in charge was probably more fit to run an office than to run an army. They were probably a suck-up too. It was better to be on top of the hill, the high ground would give them a nice vantage point, and it was harder to charge up a hill in battle than to simply attack on level terrain. Only President Shinra would favor such tactics. They weren't even hidden well, the advance scouts had probably gotten as much information back to their officers as they would have had the Shinra troops been lying in plain sight.  
Of course, it wasn't Sephiroth's job to point out the obvious blunders of whoever was in charge. To be honest, he simply didn't care in the least if each and every soldier here died in the battle. His vengeance was all that mattered, and what better place to continue his plans than a bloody battlefield?  
Sephiroth quickly examined his surroundings before finding a couple of Shinra's own scouts. They hadn't ventured very far from the rest of the troops, and really seemed to be lookouts more than anything else. Once more, a bad use of the resources at hand, but fairly convenient for him. He led his chocobo over to them, and as soon as he revealed himself to the scouts they followed their standard procedure. The first leveled a gun at him while the second began approaching and making demands.  
"Sir, please immediately dismount." Sephiroth quickly slipped off the chocobo. He could have killed the fools five or six times by now, but that wasn't the best way of making allies. "Alright, slowly drop the sword and any other weapons you may have." The scout was standing about seven feet from Sephiroth, a good range to ensure Sephiroth couldn't pull anything. Sephiroth unsheathed his sword and dropped it to the ground before also removing his bangle, a weapon due to its having materia, and dropping it to the ground. Once the scout determined Sephiroth was unarmed he came within arm's length and began observing Sephiroth. All he needed to do was look at the eyes before walking back to his partner and muttering something.  
"All right, sir, you can pick up your weapons again. Sorry about that, it's just standard procedure and whatnot. If it isn't too much of an inconvenience, the colonel would probably like to speak to you." The scout's voice was noticeably casual now. Reno had told him something like this would happen. Sephiroth didn't need any proof of loyalty to Shinra other than his eyes. He had been told that any member of SOLDIER, and only members of SOLDIER, would have those eyes thanks to the Mako exposure. To date, no member of SOLDIER had been anything but completely loyal. Reno had also said that Sephiroth didn't have to worry about them figuring out Sephiroth's eyes was due to Lifestream exposure, no one would ever think that was the case. Of course, every now and then, Sephiroth had been having doubts about whether or not his eyes were really a result of the Lifestream or not. It sometimes felt like there was still a gap in his memory, like he had forgotten something, something important at that. But Sephiroth eventually dismissed the idea. He had remembered everything else, why wouldn't have he remembered something so important?  
"Uh, sir? I had asked if it would be too much of an inconvenience for you to speak to the colonel. Is it, or not?" Sephiroth's mind was suddenly brought back to the present. He shook his head and said it was fine before being lead off to the colonel, who he presumed to be in charge.

"What do we do now, sir?" Heidegger asked the question as though Shinra should have taken the whole of one second to answer it. But it was such a difficult question, and the current situation was rather frustrated. He could remember everything like it was yesterday. Hojo's first proposal to create the ultimate soldier had been an interesting day. All the funding he had asked for seemed to be worth it though when by age five Sephiroth had proven to be a better fighter than most second-class members of SOLDIER. By age twelve, he had surpassed SOLDIER first-class. At fifteen, he was the answer to the war. Shinra should have sent him out then and there.  
Hojo, however, had been adamantly against it, saying that Sephiroth's potential hadn't been fully met. A few more years, he had said, and Sephiroth could take down entire armies by himself. Then a few infiltrators beat Sephiroth, and all the money and resources used on Sephiroth became a massive waste.  
Then, through some miracle, Sephiroth came back, and stronger than ever. The hope of success lasted for all of five minutes, when Reno burst in and informed them he had sent Sephiroth off to fight. Granted, Sephiroth was meant to fight, but not like some common soldier. He was supposed to have the finest equipment in battle, to maximize his abilities and to make sure he didn't die. Instead, he simply got one standard-issue sword and a sheath for it. Anything else Sephiroth got would only be something Reno got his hands on through stealing, confiscating, etc.  
Shinra had to admit, seeing Reno get chewed out helped a little towards easing his frustration. First Heidegger spent several hours yelling at him and telling him about the approval system he was supposed to follow. Reno didn't even know what he had done. Then Tseng had to spend an hour explaining the entire project to Reno. No detail had been left out, including the amount of syringes Hojo stuck in Sephiroth on a daily basis. Most were of course a Jenova-Mako blend, though some Shinra knew to be plain, old-fashioned performance-enhancers. All the progress checks and physicals, the chemical mix Hojo had developed for use on pre-natal specimens, Tseng had told Reno everything. Reno had been rather shocked by Shinra's secret project, and Shinra thought Reno was rather impressed too. To make sure he knew how foolish his actions were, Shinra had then personally scolded Reno for his actions and given him a new assignment. Reno was to track down and bring back Sephiroth. After he had done so, and after he was back in Midgar, his very first job would be to clean each and every bathroom at Shinra HQ with a toothbrush. Not very original, but satisfying nonetheless.  
Shinra was quite surprised when Reno simply muttered to himself and walked off to the nearest bar. Usually there was indignation and a protest, but Reno simply took his punishment as it was. Maybe, just maybe, he had actually matured enough to realize what a bad thing he had done.  
Yet Reno's situation wasn't as important as the one at hand. Sephiroth was gone and would likely fall in battle if not recovered quickly. Reno was only one person, and he wouldn't even be able to leave for another few days. Sephiroth had already been gone for six days, by the time Reno could go he would have been gone for nine. "What a perfect time for all the chocobos to be missing. Better yet, the assault vehicle broke down. We have no way of getting to Sephiroth quickly, and he's heading for what will be one of the largest battles in the war. If he gets back here, he'll probably be in hundreds of pieces!"  
"I will admit, it is a rather large inconvenience. It pretty much incapacitates us. But… communication lines should be open by tomorrow. We could always contact our generals and have them run a search for Sephiroth. If he's heading to battle, they'll be able to find him with ease." Shinra contemplated the idea. It would definitely work; the question was if Sephiroth would live long enough to see tomorrow.  
"That will have to do." Shinra said resignedly, knowing there just wasn't anything better.

Sephiroth walked into the hastily assembled tent that served as the officers' quarters. When he entered he encountered a man dressed up in a blue suit, who somehow looked familiar, and definitely didn't look like a military person.  
"Oh, it's you." The man said with an air of distaste. Sephiroth threw him a glance that blatantly said he didn't know this man. "I see you forgot already. The name, since you've forgotten, is Reeve." Sephiroth then remembered him from North Corel.  
"Oh right… the peace-mongering ignorant. I find it rather odd that someone so opposed to war is a colonel…"  
"What the-? I'm no colonel! I'm here, like you, to see the colonel. I'm simply head of urban development." Reeve was rather put off by the suggestion that he was a colonel, which rather amused Sephiroth.  
"Why would you need to see the colonel? What does he have to do with urban development?" Sephiroth asked the question knowing it would irritate Reeve. He had very little respect for those who weren't warriors.  
"This is my _vacation_. Technically though, I won't be enjoying myself in the conventional way. It so happens that the colonel has been engaging in rather unethical conduct towards other human beings."  
"You mean Wutai prisoners? Prisoners of war who were more than willing to decapitate Shinra prisoners, as proven numerous times. I lived with these people for a while. They're not so kind to Shinra." Sephiroth smirked as he watched Reeve get upset.  
"That doesn't make it right! You can't justify something just because somebody else does it. That's so childish, and just plain wrong! Unethical treatment is unethical treatment, no matter how you look at it. That's why I've started a petition to have the colonel jailed for war crimes!"  
"If you're trying to put this guy away, why are you coming to meet with him? In his own territory nonetheless, where there are tens of thousands of fully armed soldiers who would kill you with a single word from the colonel?" Yet another question tailor-made to infuriate Reeve. This time though, Reeve had the answer.  
"Ha! The colonel isn't exactly in charge. He might be running the show here, but he still answers to a general, and the general he's under is a good friend of mine. He was the first signature on the petition. I'm simply here to give the colonel fair warning."  
"Who is this colonel anyways?" Sephiroth had tired of the word game, and was looking to get some information that would actually be useful.  
"Hm? The colonel? He's called 'The Mammoth's Tusk'." Reeve seemed so proud of his bit of trivia. "He earned the nickname five months ago when he exhibited brilliant military strategy, using a flanking maneuver to completely divide his enemies into two easily defeated section. The shape his troops adopted for the charge was that of a tusk, hence the name. Mammoth just makes him sound stronger. The normal embellishing, I guess… Anyway, his real name is Alexis Cifer. Thus, he is Colonel Cifer. Been stuck at colonel for a while now, eight or nine months I think. There just hasn't been any reason to give him a higher rank. Odds are this upcoming battle will change that. Doesn't matter though, he won't enjoy his position long if he survives." Sephiroth wondered how brilliant this colonel could be though, judging by the easily found flaws in his strategy when Sephiroth first saw the encampment.  
At that point the colonel did grace them with his presence. He was rather tall, stood rigidly. Numerous scars checkered his face and hands, and he was rather dirty. His uniform was remarkably somehow still spotless and completely undamaged. A normal military officer. Maybe he just got lucky in the battle that earned him his nickname…  
"Ah, Reeve. What a… pleasant surprise." The two obviously disliked each other. Sephiroth could already see what natural enemies they were. Reeve went against the grain and liked to do the right thing, while Colonel Cifer obviously was content to blend into the woodwork and simply did whichever thing worked best for him. It was amusing somehow.  
"Hello, colonel. Just figured I'd be kind enough to give you a heads-up on the latest movement. I am a gentleman. But since you're not, I hope you enjoy prison. People who are found guilty of war crimes usually get booked for life."  
"War crimes?" The colonel was startled, and quite angry too. "Oh, I get it now. This is about those prisoners whose execution I broadcast. I really hate to break this to you Reeve, but war is not some pretty thing. It's not a nice, clean affair like you seem to think. Those who become a part of it know the risks of death. These men knew it, they were prepared for, and they got it. End of story."  
"Firstly, war itself is wrong." Reeve began, calmly beginning his speech. "Secondly, since it seems that it's unavoidable, there need to be rules in it. Killing a prisoner, and especially broadcasting it on TV so that Wutai could watch it, is in violation of those rules."  
"War is not a game." This time Sephiroth was making a contribution. "Games need rules, but rules simply hinder war. Draw it out, and more people die… Besides, you don't make war with an army. You make war with a country. That country has to accept all risks that come with war, and do everything to quickly win a war, or it shouldn't be at war." The colonel nodded to him. Sephiroth had made a good impression, which was good. He wanted to be out on the front lines for this upcoming battle. Besides, Sephiroth just disliked Reeve, and couldn't help but double-team the now exasperated Reeve.  
"Have it your way. It really doesn't matter. Regardless of your views, the law is law, and no one is above it-"  
"That's a load of crap and you know it too. Executives do whatever the hell they want. Two weeks ago Rude, one of the Turks, shot seven different people to make sure his new gun's aim was calibrated right. Not one person raised a finger. Three weeks ago Hojo was seen dragging a corpse around Nibelheim while carrying a gun. Blood was still flowing out of the victim. He did it in plain sight, and no one cared. Just over a week ago the president killed an aide because there was dust in his helicopter before he took off. No one cared!" Reeve was at a loss for words before he made his final remark.  
"Maybe so, but you're not someone so fortunate. You're subject to the law, and you'll feel its full force. And all those other people? They'll eventually get theirs. That's just the way life goes. No sinner goes without penance." Reeve then stormed off, knowing full well he had lost the debate. The colonel chuckled lightly at his retreating form.  
"What a prick… Anyway, I am Colonel Cifer. And you are a member of SOLDIER, I take it?"  
"Not exactly. I was recently demoted so that I could come down here." The colonel took in the words and frowned slightly.  
"I had hoped this was a sign that more of SOLDIER would be coming down. I've been asking for reinforcements for weeks. The general keeps denying my requests. I really wish Reeve hadn't gotten to him with all his philosophy. But I'll take what I can get. Still, I hear that Benkei's running the show for Wutai's forces near hear."  
"Benkei?" Sephiroth was sure he had heard the name before, but he couldn't quite place it. Probably someone Godo had known.  
"Yeah. He's a legend in the army. Never lost a single battle. And he actually takes part in the battle too. He's slain over a thousand troops with his sword. He's even taken out members of SOLDIER like they were nothing. It's that damn sword of his."  
"What do you mean?" Sephiroth was rather confused. A good sword was important in battle of course, but how much of a difference could it make?  
"His sword is incredible! It's called the Masamune. It's extremely long. He can strike enemies from a range where their own weapons are useless. Most people would need to be three or four feet closer before their sword could hit him when they're taken out! We've tried offing him with sniper rifles, but he's so aware of everything. They never hit." Sephiroth's interest was rather piqued by this Benkei. He sounded like a most worthy foe indeed. And as for the sword…  
"Do you know anything else about the Masamune?"  
"Oh yeah. Tons of stuff. There are a LOT of legends about that sword." Sephiroth proceeded to listen to every story there was about the Masamune, and with every word he took in it became more and more clear. He would get that sword for himself.

**Author's Note**: So how was it? Good? Bad? Tempted to kill me for wasting your time? Figured I'd get the more tedious parts out of the way now, and maybe start to try a theory on why exactly Sephiroth has his super awesome impossibly long sword of death. Well, you know the basic drill. Like any other person, I want reviews! So review! Four reviews for all the work… Well, actually, looking back on the first five or so chapters, I guess it's reasonable. It's getting better, but few people are willing to bear with those first several chapters. That's why I'll be revising them! Oh yes, I'm taking on an ultra-ambitious project to redo my work. I'll post the revisions when I post chapter nine, which is technically chapter ten if you count the prologue, which I'll also be tinkering with some. Until then!


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